KURT Barbosa will be facing world No. 1 Jang Jun of Korea on Saturday in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics taekwondo competition at the Makuhari Masse Hall A.
The Filipino jin, ranked 16th in the men’s 58 kg category, is facing an uphill task against Jang, who was crowned world champion in 2019.
The bout is set at 11:52 a.m. (10:52 a.m. Manila time)
Barbosa seeks upset
Upsets, however, aren’t unusual in this weight category. In the last Olympics, top-seed Farzan Ashourzadeh of Iran lost to Omar Hajjami of Morocco in Rio De Janeiro.
The winner will meet either eighth-seed Rui Braganca of Portugal or Adrian Vicente Yunta of Spain.
In the event of a defeat though, Barbosa still has a chance to capture a medal in the repechage where two bronzes are at stake.
The 22-year-old Barbosa helped Philippine taekwondo make it back to the Olympics - 13 years since Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero competed in the Beijing Games.
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