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Taekwondo World's Kick Off Friday
By Bill Kellick // USA Taekwondo // May 17, 2007
The 2007 World Taekwondo Championships kick off Friday in Beijing, with the 16-member U.S. team hungry to improve on its four-medal tally from 2005. The Lopez family will look to "Repeat the Three-Peat" from the 2005 World Championships when all three siblings (Mark, Diana and Steven) claimed gold medals. Steven Lopez, a two-time Olympic gold medalist is seeking his third consecutive world title. Mark Lopez also won a silver medal in 2003 and a bronze at the 1999 World Championships.
Other U.S. team members who have World Championship medals on their resume include men's flyweight Tim Thackrey (bronze in 2003) and men's heavyweight Josh Coleman (bronze in 1999). Women's lightweight Nia Abdallah was a silver medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Be sure to catch all the action of the 2007 World Taekwondo Championships on www.wcsn.com, where you can see same-day action of the semi-finals and finals.
The men's team consists of finweight Luis Reyes (Van Nuys, Calif.), flyweight Tim Thackrey (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), bantamweight Brian Gallagher (Littleton, Colo.), featherweight Mark Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas), lightweight David Bartlett (Colorado Springs, Colo.), welterweight Steven Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas), middleweight Antony Graf (Miami, Fla.) and heavyweight Josh Coleman (Winston-Salem, N.C.).
The women's team is comprised of finweight Charlotte Craig (Murrieta, Calif.), flyweight Simone DeVito (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.), bantamweight Eleni Koutsilianos (Astoria, N.Y.), featherweight Diana Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas), lightweight Nia Abdallah (Houston, Texas), welterweight Simona Hradil (Los Angeles, Calif.), middleweight Dalia Avivi (Davie, Fla.) and heavyweight Lynda Laurin (Austin, Texas).
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