Elizabeth Anyanacho is eyeing the top prize at the 2023 African Taekwondo Championships taking place this weekend in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
The 24-year-old who is one of the beneficiaries of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Scholarship at the Taekwondo Competence Center (TCC), Friedrichshafen in Germany to boost her preparation and qualification towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games , will be Nigeria’s sole representative at the continental showpiece.
The 2022 bronze medallist told NationSport from her base that she hopes to turn her silver and bronze medals won in 2021 and 2022 to gold in Abidjan.
“It is not going to be easy but with what I have been able to learn from all the competitions I had featured this year, I am sure of making the podium, but I love to win the highest medal,” she said.“ I will be heading to the tournament with my German coach, and I hope I can achieve my dream to continue to improve my ranking ahead of the Olympics qualifiers taking place next year in Senegal.”
After her participation at the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Anyanacho became the second Nigerian female taekwondist to compete at the Olympic Games after Princess Dudu at Athens 2004 in Greece.
Ranked 35th in the women’s 67kg category as the highest rated Nigerian taekwondist in the world, and for finishing as a bronze medallist at the 2023 China World Taekwondo Grand Prix, Anyanacho is expected to gain more ranking points in her bid to qualify for Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France.
This year, Anyanacho had featured in several international tournaments including the Paris 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix (quarterfinalist), Luxembourg Open 2023 (gold medallist), Austrian Open 2023 (bronze medallist), 2023 Dutch Open (silver medallist) and Slovenia Open 2023 (silver medallist).
