Chau set for tough opening fight
HA NOI — Viet Nam's Le Huynh Chau will compete with the No 2 seed Wei Chen Yang from Chinese Taipei in the first match of the men's taekwondo 58kg category tomorrow in the London Olympics.
Despite being the Asian Games defending champion, Yang lost to Chau twice in two recent tournaments. The first was at a Olympic qualifier in Thailand last year and the second was at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in HCM City in May.
If Chau wins the first match, his next rival will be the winner of a clash between the No 7 seed Alexey Denisenki of Russia and Heiner Oviedo of Costa Rica.
According to Truong Ngoc De, the head of Viet Nam's taekwondo team, if Chau maintains his perfect performance during training, he will have chance to enter the semi-finals – the target set up for the team before the London Games.
On the women's side, Chu Hoang Dieu Linh will meet No 6 seed Helena Fromm of Germany in the first round match of the 67kg class.
Linh will compete on Friday.
"Chau and Linh trained hard during their one week in France and arrive London on Sunday. They have adjusted well to the local climate and have become familiar with the competition mat," said De.
"In my opinion I think Chau has the best chance of the two," he said. — VNS