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Rabat – Moroccan taekwondo prodigy Oumaima El Bouchti clinched her ticket to the upcoming Paris Olympics, scheduled to be held from July 16 to August 11.
Competing in the -49kg weight division, El Bouchti earned the second qualification position based on the latest global rankings following the withdrawal of her category from Olympic qualifications in the Oceania region.
The World Taekwondo Federation’s decision to validate El Bouchti’s qualification was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following a challenge by Korean taekwondo athlete Mi Reu Kang, who had disputed the Moroccan’s eligibility despite being ranked ninth in the world.
Driss El Hilali, President of the Royal Moroccan Taekwondo Federation, stressed that El Bouchti’s qualification, along with that of her compatriot Fatima Zahra Abou Fares, was confirmed after thorough verification of all required documentation.
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This validation process was not without controversy, as the Korean delegation disputed El Bouchti’s right to qualify after a change in weight category.
“Oumaima El Bouchiti changed her weight category after the closure of the Olympic qualification list, where she held the eighth global rank, surpassing her Korean counterpart,” El Hilali said in an interview with MAP, Morocco’s official press agency.
El Bouchti has amassed an impressive array of accolades in recent years, including silver medals from both the African Games and the Islamic Solidarity Games.
She is also a two-time gold medalist at the African Taekwondo Championships.
At the 2021 African Taekwondo Championships in Dakar, Senegal, El Bouchti clinched the gold medal in the women’s 49 kg category.
Subsequently, she competed in the same weight category at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, where she lost her first match to South Korea’s Sim Jae-young.
In another good news for the Moroccan taekwondo scene, Fatima Zahra Abou Fares secured her ticket to the 2024 Paris Taekwondo Olympics, following her victory in the final of the Olympic qualifying tournament held in Senegal. She defeated Guinea’s Ayong Veronica by two rounds to zero (2-0) in the over 67 kg category.
