TEHRAN – Taekwondo athlete Nahid Kiani from Iran secured her place at the 2020 Olympic Games.

She qualified for the final match of the -57kg in the Asian Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan.

Kiani and Lo Chia-ling from Chinese Taipei advanced to the final.  

Kiani started the campaign with a 14-0 win over Law Sin Yi from Hong Kong. She then earned a narrow 18-16 win over reigning champion Phannapa Harnsujin from Thailand. Kiani also defeated Natali Hamaidi from Jordan in semifinals and advanced to the final match.

She will be Iran’s only woman taekwondo athlete in Tokyo 2020.

Iran’s Mahla Momenzadeh also participated in the competition but failed to earn her ticket to the Games in the -49kg weight category.

Men taekwondo practitioners Mirhashem Hosseini in -68kg and Armin Hadipour in -58kg have already booked their spot in the Games.

Taekwondo at Tokyo will feature 128 taekwondo fighters competing in eight weight categories from July 24 to 27.