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‘Booyoung Dream Program’ Invites 19 Olympic Hopefuls

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SEOUL, Korea (25 November, 2019) - With the track to Tokyo 2020 getting shorter and shorter, the 2019 “Booyoung Dream Program” is taking place now from November 22 to December 3 in Muju, Korea.

 

The program, sponsored by Booyoung, offers athletes suffering from limited financial means the opportunity to come to Korea for best-of-breed Olympic preparation training.

 

This year’s athletes hail from 18 countries; the program aims at assisting them ahead of their respective Continental Qualification Tournaments. Among them are three refugee athletes, each holding an IOC Refugee Scholarship.

 

Kasra Mehdipournejad who's one of refugee athletes said.

 

"It is my dream to be a flag bearer of the Refugee Team in Tokyo 2020, and I want to win the medal as well. I thank WT for creating this great program which is really helpful for me. I hope the Booyoung Dream program last for a long time."

 

(For the information of participating athletes, please see table at bottom.)

 

Their program takes place at the WT Central Training Center, Muju Taekwondowon in cooperation with Taekwondo Promotion Foundation.

 

The Booyoung Dream Program has a legacy of success. A previous alumni of the program was Ahmad Abughaush, the athlete who went on to win gold in Rio in 2016, granting his country, Jordan, its first-ever Olympic medal.

 

Athletes on the program visited the WT Headquarters in Seoul on Nov. 25. World Taekwondo Peace Corps Foundation Secretary General Hyunsuk Shin also joined to encourage all athletes.

 

WT President Chungwon Choue said.

 

“It was a huge pleasure to meet these fine athletes in the midst of their Olympic preparations and I hope all of you achieve your dream. I am grateful to our global partner, Booyoung, for offering them this precious chance.”

 

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Table: Participating athletes in 2019

 

No.

Name MNA Gender Remarks
1 Arnold Nkoy DR Congo Male  
2 Wandile Maziya Eswatini Male  
3 Seydou Fofana Mali Male  
4 Munirah Warsame Abdiwahid Somalia Female  
5 Admire Tshitshiliza Zimbabwe Male  
6 AItakhunov Akbar Kyrgyzstan Male  
7 Laetitia Aoun Lebanon Female  
8 Haroon Khan Pakistan Male  
9 Merab Shukakidze Georgia Male  
10 Kasra Mehdipournejad Germany Male Refugee Athlete
11 Amir Mohammad Hosseini Germany Male Refugee Athlete
12 Apostolos Telikostoglou Greece Male  
13 Patrik DIVKOVIC Slovenia Male  
14 Seyed Ehsan Naghibzadeh Switzerland Male Refugee Athlete
15 Jorge Gonzalez Andorra Male  
16 Alexander Allen Guam Male  
17 Fernanda Aguirre Chile Female  
18 Brandon Sealy Jamaica Male  
19 David Robleto Chamorro Nicaragua Male  

 

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