Swiss fighters look to Athens Olympics

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After a disappointing performance in South Korea, Swiss taekwondo experts are keeping their eyes fixed on the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens.

The Swiss team of six only managed to win one fight at the 15th world taekwondo championships in South Korea. Gomez Luciano was the only Swiss to make it through to the second round of the tournament.

These results though, are not really a cause for concern, coach Amhand Abdennebi said.

He named three reasons for their poor performance in the homeland of taekwondo.

First, the draw pitted the Swiss against top-class competitors. “Christina Bach and Niko Kricka were knocked out by the Olympic champions of their category and the eventual winners of the tournament, Iris Peinelt lost out to the bronze medal winner.”

“Second, the Swiss team is not a major European team like France or Italy. We don’t have the means to reach that goal,” Abdennebi continued.

“Finally, our team is still very young so we are concentrating on the future.”

To help train-this young generation of fighters, the government has employed a coach who Abdennebi says is one of the best in the world.

For the last two years, Jang Hyuk has trained the Swiss team to compete on the international circuit. For now, they are learning to fight at a high level, against the best in the world and to gain experience.

“It’s the first time that I have competed at such a high level,” Galatia Grigoriadis said. “We are becoming aware of a very important point: if we don’t fight, then we lose our edge.”

The next challenge is the European champhionships and the world cup. But the ultimate aim is to win a medal at the next Olympic Games.

swissinfo