Undoubtedly one of Australia’s toughest couples, fiancées Safwan Khalil and Carmen Marton have kicked 2012 off with outstanding results in world class Taekwondo tournaments.
Undoubtedly one of Australia’s toughest couples, fiancées Safwan Khalil and Carmen Marton have kicked 2012 off with outstanding results in world class Taekwondo tournaments.
The 25-year-olds are knocking on the door of Olympic selection after winning the Oceania championships and claiming a quota place in both the men’s U/58kg and the women’s U/67kg for London.
The couple hope to be Olympic medallists when they walk down the aisle later this year.
Accompanied by coach and Khalil’s older brother Ali, the powerhouse pair have been fine tuning their skills in a bid to earn selection and add to Australia’s tally of two Taekwondo Olympic medals.
The duo have been taking on the world’s best Taekwondo fighters in respected tournaments throughout Europe over the past month.
Marton competed in both the U/62kg and the U/67kg divisions, claiming gold in the U/62kg at the Dutch Open in Eindhoven after five straight victories that saw her knock off Russia’s Marina Cheshuina in the final, but didn’t fair quite as well in the U/67kg being knocked out in the round of 32.
Ranked 13th in the world in the U/67kg, Marton claimed bronze in the Spanish Open in Alicante in the U/67kg division the division Australia has the quota place for London.
After being knocked out of the quarter-finals of the Beijing Olympics, Marton is looking to build on some solid results and Olympic experience to secure a medal at her second attempt.
Competing in the U/58kg weight division, Khalil claimed bronze in the German Open in Hamburg in early March after being knocked out in the semi-finals by eventual winner Ruslan Poiseev of Russia.
The Sydney based fighter showed promising signs of improvement as he bettered his German Open result with a silver medal at the Dutch Open after going down to Iran’s Yasin Akbarnataj after four successive wins to make the final.
Khalil, currently ranked 9th in the world, is not adverse to facing and beating the world’s best after beating two-time World Champion Joel Gonzales to make it to the quarter-finals at the World Taekwondo Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2011.
The Taekwondo representatives for the London 2012 Olympic Games will be officially announced over the coming days.
Matt Bartolo
AOC