Seo Gun-woo (Korea Taekwondo) became the first Korean athlete to win the men’s 80kg title at the 2023 World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) World Grand Prix Final, earning an automatic berth to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.Seo defeated Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Seif Eisa of Egypt by a round robin score of 2-1 (4-12, 15-2, 22-13) in the men’s 80 kg final on Wednesday (March 3) in Manchester, England.The men’s 80-kilogram category is one of Korea’s weaker divisions, and no Korean has ever won gold at a World Grand Prix Final.Seo had to settle for a silver medal in last year’s final after falling 1-2 to Simone Alessio (ITA), the strongest man in the weight class and Olympic No. 1, but a year later he was back on the top step of the podium.Seo met Alessio in the quarterfinals and avenged last year’s defeat with a 2-1 (15-16, 15-11, 17-4) round robin victory.
Seo had beaten Alessio 2-1 in the first round of the Grand Prix in June, and the win was a confidence booster.In the quarterfinals, he defeated Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Salih Elsharabati of Jordan with a 2-1 round robin score to reach the final.Seo, ranked No. 9 in the world, earned 100 world ranking points and will be ranked No. 4 in the Olympic rankings next month.As a result, Seo earned an automatic berth to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which is awarded to the top five ranked athletes in each weight class.This is the first time South Korea has qualified for the men’s 80 kilograms at the Olympics.South Korea hasn’t qualified in that weight class since Sydney 2000, when taekwondo became an Olympic sport.Seo didn’t make much of a name for himself until early last year, when he won the Muju World Grand Prix Challenger in June.He made waves when he defeated Alessio to win the third edition of the Grand Prix in October, and he 스포츠토토존 has made a splash at every international tournament this year.