The seventh International Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championship concluded in UAE where Indian stalwart Ajay Dalal added another feather in his hat by winning Bronze medal jointly with Bassel Ayoub from Morocco. He lost the match to the 2016 Olympics bronze medalist. He is the only Indian male in the senior category to claim a medal in this tournament. Ajay had also made India proud by getting a medal in the last edition of Fujairah open. The gold and the silver medal were won by Kattan Hamza from Jordan and Zhaparov Ruslan from Kazakhstan respectively. This win will surely install a sense of excitement in the minds of young boys and girls who are playing Taekwondo as Ajay said in his exclusive interview with us (Read Mr Ajay Dalal's Interview). With this conquest, he now has a maximum number of medals in the men’s category in India.
“Winning a medal for India is always a matter of pride and I am very happy to get it twice in the same tournament, it feels very special,” said Ajay in the response of how he is feeling after getting the medal. Fujairah open is a ranking tournament with a fantastic level of competition. It had several Olympians and world champions participating and playing here is a great opportunity to get ready for the upcoming Olympics. Ajay has made everyone proud by getting a medal in such a fierce level of competition. Ajay also said that he takes this as a great learning opportunity where he played with several world champions. Playing against an Olympian even if it means losing is a big deal because the level of the Olympics is great. Getting into Olympics is a major achievement and getting a medal there is across the board, so playing with such players as good exposure.
This is not it for Ajay as he now moves forward to Iran for three tournaments namely Fajar cup, Asian Club championship and President cup. The medalist from the President cup will get a direct entry into Asian Championship to be held next year. The Olympic qualifying round will be held through the Asian Championship. The next up for Ajay is to make a place in the Asian Championship through President cup and then to Olympic through the Asian Championship quota. All these tournaments will be played between Olympic champions and experience gained through this Fujairah Open will be a major boon for him. “It was great playing with these Olympians and my confidence is now high. There have been some mistakes on my part which I will work upon once I return and I am fully preparing for upcoming challenges in Iran” he added.
