Team Nigeria taekwondo captain to the 2011 All Africa Games, Uche Perez Chukwumerije has won a gold medal at the 25th Belgian Opens.
The tournament, which is a Grade One World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) competition have athletes from different parts of the world competing to gain points for their world ratings.
To win the gold, Uche defeated Rob Van Der Ploeg of Netherlands 2-1 in a quick opening bout, he overcame Josip Mara of Croatia 14-2 in the semifinals, and completed his fine form by flooring Hicham Massaoudi of Germany 4-1 in a very tactical final.
The current All Africa gold medalist, whose current world ranking as of February 2014, is 33, has earned a valuable 10 points that would impact positively on his world ranking which will be released this week.
He needs to be among the top 31 in the World to be eligible to compete at the Grand Prix Series, an exclusive Tournament series reserved for the World’s top 31 athletes in the eight weight categories. Top six qualifies automatically for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
After the bout, an excited Uche was pleased with his performance.
“I am happy that I won. This was my first competition since the World Championships last year, so I was a bit nervous. It is very important that I got some world ranking points. It is good for Nigeria and increases our chances for RIO 2016 Olympics.
“I hope I can repeat the same feat next weekend at the German Opens, next month at the African Senior Championships and at other tournaments scheduled for me this year. Hopefully, I would earn enough points to break into the Top 30 ranking this year,” he said.
He explained the importance of earning world ranking points.
“The Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) led by George Ashiru, has encouraged and mandated elite athletes to earn points, while the NTF focuses on developing young athletes. Hence, my focus in 2014 is on earning those important points and fine-tuning my competitive skills, so I can be in prime shape by 2015, which is a key year for Elite athletes,” he added.
Uche Perez is brother and mentor to triple Olympian, Chika Chukwumerije, whose engagement with the National Youth Team to the 2014 Junior World Championships in Chinese Taipei caused Chika to miss the opportunity to gain vital ranking points alongside his older brother.