Santo Domingo, April 1 (PL) - Cuban taekwondists who will participate in the Dominican Republic in the Taekwondo Qualifying Championship for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are attending in Santo Domingo a training base prior to the event.

Ivan Fernandez, president of the Cuban Taekwondo Federation, highlighted to Prensa Latina the good preparation of the athletes and pointed out that the highest aspiration of the delegation is to reach the greatest number of quotas that the tournament will provide for the event in Paris, in July this year.

Marlyn Pérez (49 kg) and the experienced Arlettys de la Caridad Acosta (67 kg) will be representing Cuba at the Championship, to be held from April 9 to 11 at the Ricardo -Gioriver- Arias Volleyball Palace, at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, in this capital.

Fernandez recalled that the villaclareña Acosta is double Central American and Caribbean champion (Barranquilla, 2018 and Santo Domingo, 2023), and bronze medalist at the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile held last October.

He specified that the Cuban quartet is completed by Kelvin Calderón in the 80 kg division, bronze medalist in the Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador 2023, and who had the Dominican Republic as a sub-host in seven disciplines, among these taekwondo.

He commented that the 80 kg division is one of the strongest that the men's division has at world level by bringing together athletes with international recognition.

The double world champion (2013 and 2019) and Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo 2020, Rafael Alba, will also seek his ticket to Paris in this qualifying event, which will deliver 16 in total, eight per gender.

The president of the Cuban Taekwondo Federation told this newspaper that Alba (over 80 kg) has been preparing in Mexico, after not being able to attend the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile due to injuries.

For the native of Santiago de Cuba, three-time Central American champion and Pan American champion in Toronto-2015, obtaining a place in the Dominican Republic would mean his third appearance in the Olympic Games.

Miguel Camacho, president of the Dominican Taekwondo Federation, recently pointed out that Santo Domingo will host athletes from the more than 40 countries that make up the Pan American Taekwondo Union in the coming days.