Hosts to challenge South Korean taekwondo dominance

By Ian Ransom

BEIJING (Reuters) - South Korean hopes of maintaining their dominance of Olympic taekwondo will be put to the test by China, whose strongest ever team will be spurred on by a partisan home crowd.

While South Korea has topped the medal standings at both Games since the martial art was elevated to full Olympic status at Sydney in 2000, the team charged with defending its proud record is decidedly green.

At 22, double welterweight world champion and Athens bronze medalist Hwang Kyungseon is South Korea's oldest taekwondo jin, and also their strongest medal contender in the taekwondo tournament, which starts on Wednesday.

Should Hwang advance to the semi-finals of the women's 67-kg class, she faces a potential world title rematch against Gwladys Epangue of France, whom she defeated in Beijing last year.

The Chinese, second in Olympic standings and only two titles behind South Korea, are confident.

World champion Chen Zhong will bid to become the country's first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title twice when she competes in the heavyweight (+78-kg) division.

Although strong favorite, Chen faces a perilous first-round bout against Venezuela's Adriana Carmona, who holds the world title in the lighter 72-kg category.

Finweight world champion Wu Jingyu of China is also a favorite to win gold in the women's 49-kg class, where a potentially tense semi-final against Taiwan's Yang Shu-Chun awaits. Yang bested Wu in an Asian title bout earlier this year.

The U.S. team's ambitions rest largely on the shoulders of one family, with twice Olympic champion Steven Lopez joined by younger brother and former featherweight world champion Mark and sister Diana, who took bronze at the 2007 world championships.

Steven, the only male taekwondo jin to win two Olympic golds, faces a tough opening bout in the 80-kg class against the man he defeated for the Athens title.

Bahri Tanrikulu of Turkey, who fought the 29-year-old American with a broken arm in the final in 2004, has pledged to make amends in Beijing and, like Lopez, has brought an Olympian sibling for support.

Younger sister Azize competes in the women's 57-kg category, and could face Diana Lopez in the second round.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)