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Taekwondo: Qualifies for 08 Olympics

The United States Taekwondo Team secured its maximum number of four spots for the 2008 Olympic Games on Sunday when the brother-and-sister tandem of Mark and Diana Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas) both reached the finals in their respective divisions at the Pan American Olympic Qualification Tournament in Cali, Colombia. A top three finish was needed at the event to qualify.

In a remarkable display of domination, the Lopezes outscored their opponents by a combined 22-(-4) over the course of their six matches.

Mark Lopez opened with consecutive 3-(-1) victories over El Salvador's Josue Isaias Sandoval and Ecuador's Diego Chango Azanza, and then scored a 5-0 shutout over Chile's Mario Guerra to reach the finals and qualify the men's bantam/featherweight division.

Diana Lopez faced a stiff test in her opening match of the women's bantam/featherweight division against 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Iridia Salazar of Mexico, but she was up to the task, winning 0-(-1). Lopez went on to defeat Chile's Maria Jose Jara by the seven-point gap rule in the third round, 6-(-1), and then scored a 5-0 win over Colombia's Doris Patino to qualify for the finals.

On Sunday, 16-year-old Charlotte Craig (Murrieta, Calif.) qualified a spot for the U.S. in the women's fin/flyweight division. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Steven Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas) secured the first U.S. berth for the 2008 Olympic Games in September at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Manchester, England, in the men's light/welterweight division.

Craig, Mark and Diana Lopez will now each face a top U.S. challenger in April to determine the individual representatives for the U.S. in the three weight divisions at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. That challenger will come from a fight-off in January among a pool of original Olympic Trials participants.

The Lopezes are attempting to become the first three siblings to qualify for the same U.S. Olympic Team since 1904.


 
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