ABU GHOUSH SECURES OLYMPIC PLACE
Apr 17, 2016
Taekwondo star Ahmad Abu Ghoush has secured his qualification to this summer’s Olympic Games to become the second Jordanian guaranteed a place at Rio de Janeiro.
The 20-year-old beat Thailand’s Sila Peertheb 12-1 in the semi-final to book his place as the two finalists qualify. He then crushed Mongolia’s Temuujin Purevjav 14-2 to win the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament’s gold medal.
Lana Al Jaghbeer, Jordan Olympic Committee Secretary General, was one of the first to congratulate him with a message from President HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein who also congratulated the Jordan Taekwondo Federation.
Abu Ghoush will now join boxer Hussein Ishaiash in the team who won his place for Rio earlier this month.
While it was celebrations for Abu Ghoush, it was heartbreak for three of his teammates who lost in the semi-finals.
Julyana Al-Sadeq lost 2-0 to Uzbekistan’s Nigora Tursunkulova, while Anas al Adarbi came painfully close, losing his match by just one point to Nikita Rafalovic of Uzbekistan 5-4. Bana Daraghmi lost in the last four to eventual gold medallist Huang Huai-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei.
