Kimia Alizadeh, the 18-year-old taekwondoka, who made headlines at 2016 Rio Games by becoming the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal, has been selected by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) to be the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the World Taekwondo Championships to be held in is held in Muju, South Korea from June 24 to June 30, 2017.
The new logo of the WTF will also be unveiled at the opening and Alizadeh will be wearing the WTF’s special outfit with the new logo.
The Iranian male taekwondo squad consists of Armin Hadipour, Farzan Ashourzadeh, Mirhashem Hosseini, Abolfazl Yaghoubi, Masoud Hojjizavvareh, Pourya Erfanian, Saeid Rajabi, and Sajjad Mardani.
The female squad consists of Nahid Kiani, Tayebeh Parsa, Kimia Alizadeh, Melika Pourhosseini, Zahra Pouresmaeil, and Akram Khodabandeh.
The Iranian taekwondokas will depart for South Korea Sunday night.
Accoridng to WTF, 917 athletes from 183 nations have signed up for the June 24-30 WTF World Taekwondo Championships in Muju. This will be the seventh WTF worlds in South Korea and first since 2011.
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