Cambodia Taekwondo Star, Sorn Darvin looking for a wild Card for London

Sorn Darvin poses with Coach Choi after winning Silver at the 26th SEA games in Indonesia last Nov

Cambodia’s Taekwondo star Sorn Darvin is now looking to a wild card placement following the Failure to make it through the Asian Olympic Qualifiers held last weekend in Bangkok Thailand. The Trio of Sorn Darvin,Chhouem Puthearim and Tubbs Daren blew their chances of qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games after missing out on podium places at the qualifying tournament which featured competitors from 40 countries across Asia.

Sorn Darvin,one of Four Cambodian's currently on a London Olympic Scholarship came agonizingly close to a podium finish in the 67kg despite competing with a broken wrist. The 26th SEA games Silver medalist won the first round against her counterpart from Singapore only to lose by a point to Kazakhstan in the semi finals. With an outside chance to make it into the LONDON Olympics, Sorn took on the Opponent from Ubekistan in the 3rd and 4th Playoffs and also went down by a point to fall short of a place in the Olympics next year.

With the top three in each weight category progressing to the London mega-event, Cambodia’s SEA Games bronze winner Chhouem Puthearim also agonisingly close in the 57kg women’s events but ultimately finished with fourth placing.

Team-mate Tubb Daren ended fifth in the men’s 68kg class.

Chouen Puthearim poses with coach Choi Yong Sok after winning bronze in the last SEA games.

National team coach Choi Yong Sok remained upbeat despite the lack of London tickets as Cambodia now look to seek for a wild card placement for Sorn Darvin.

“Even though our athletes did not finish in the top three of their qualifiers, what we achieved here is a good result compared with before,” the South Korea-born coach said.

"We will now have to wait for the NOC to apply for a Tripartite Universality placement on behalf of Sorn Darvin" The Coach said.

According to the Olympic Solidarity's Tripartite Placement, there are two places for Women Taekwondo in next years Olympic.

Sorn Darvin who is currently ranked 28 in the world now has a slim chance of making it to the Olympics through the wild card. The 1.89m tall finished 8th in 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and In the 2011 World Championship in Daegu, South Korea before grabbing Silver in the last SEA games in Indonesia.

• 13802 reads
• Printer-friendly version