Stories By Lekan Olaseinde & Gbenga Jolaosho Abuja
Th e nation’s chances of winning a medal at the 2017 World Taekwando Championship in Muju, South Korea yesterday took another blow as Edwin Samson was eliminated in the Round of 32 stages signifying a near disastrous outing for Team Nigeria at the championship. Africa’s silver medallist at the African Championship held in Egypt in January, Samson, known as the ‘Cute King Fisher’ had defeated Belarusian fi ghter Yauheni Heidzel 25 – 17 in the 113th fi ght of the Championship to progress to Round of 32, the Twitter handle of the Nigeria Taekwando Federation revealed on Th ursday.
However, Samson crashed out when he faced China’s Shuai Zhao who is ranked 18th in the world and was the 12th seeded fi ghter for the Championship. He lost by 12- 33 to the Asian. Th e only Nigerian left in the Championship is Bright Kolade who will fi ght later today (Friday) in the -80kg, Fourteen fi ghters in the male and female categories represented Africa at the Championship. Santos Akhile who competed in the men’s -68kg in the world championship will however fi ght next week in the 2017 Chuncheon Open Taekwando tournament. Th e Open holds July 2-7 in the South Korean city.
