London 2012 Olympian, Ruth Gbagbi, was a winner at the African Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament, which ended at the weekend in Agadir City in Morocco.
The Ivorian beat Egypt’s Seham Elsawalhy in the women’s -67kg final, with the pair joined on the podium by Gabon’s Urgence Mouega.
In other women’s categories, the -49kg, saw the DR Congo’s Rosa Keleku get the better of Cape Verde’s Maria Andrade in the battle for top honours.
Ethiopia’s Nardos Chifra took third place.
The male winners included home favourite Omar Hajjami and Tunisia’s Yassine Trabelsi in the -58kg and +80kg divisions respectively.
Libya’s Yousef Shriha and Lesotho’s Marumo Moloisane rounded out the top three in the -58kg.
Niger’s Abdoul Issoufou and the Central African Republic’s Remy Alazoula came behind Trabelsi in the +80kg pecking order.
Eighty-four athletes from 29 countries competed in the two-day event.
Sixteen spots in this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics were up for grabs, with finalists in each of the four male and four female divisions gaining a berth.
Three African fighters already secured a spot on the World Taekwondo Federation’s Olympic ranking lists for 2015.
They are Ivorian -80kg fighter Cheick Cissé as well as Gabon’s 2013 +80kg world champion Anthony Obame.
Egypt’s -67kg fighter Hedaya Malak has also already gained a spot.
Meanwhile, Ghofran Zaki became the third Egyptian taekwondo player to qualify for Rio 2016 after finishing first in the men’s 68kg category.
Zaki defeated Senegal’s Balla Dieye 2-1 in the final with the top two ranked athletes in each weight division securing a place at this summer’s Olympic Games.
ANA/NAN.
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