Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The draw for taekwondo competitions has been held as part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Two taekwondo fighters will represent Azerbaijan at the competition.

Farida Azizova (67 k) will face Paige Macpherson (USA), while Milad Beigi Harchegani (80 kg) will fight against Wei-Ting Liu (Taiwan).

Notably, Azizova previously competed in the 67 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She has qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics through the 2021 European Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Farida Azizova and judoka Rustam Orujov will bear Azerbaijani flag at the Tokyo Summer Olympics on July 23.

Milad Beigi Harchegani (80 kg) is a bronze medalist of the 2016 Summer Olympics. He also won a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final in Baku.

In 2019, he was crowned as the world taekwondo champion for the second time.

Harchegani secured the gold after defeating Jose Cobas (Cuba), Ismael Bouzid (France), Aaron Cook (Moldova) as well as Park Woo-Hyeok (South Korea) in the final.

In 2017, he claimed a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Championship in South Korea.

Meanwhile, the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo will be held from July 23 to August 8 this year.

Formerly scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9 2020, the event was postponed amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite being rescheduled for 2021, the event retains the Tokyo 2020. This is the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled.

The 2020 Games will mark the second time that Japan has hosted the Summer Olympic Games, the first being also in Tokyo in 1964, making this the first city in Asia to host the Summer Games twice.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics will feature competitions including 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX, and madison cycling, as well as further mixed events.

Under new IOC policies, which allow the host organizing committee to add new sports to the Olympic program to augment the permanent core events, these Games will see karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding make their Olympic debuts, as well as the return of baseball and softball for the first time since 2008.

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