A series of events have been announced that will act as seeding competitions for the debut of team kyorugui at the Pan American Games in Santiago ©PATU

The Pan American Taekwondo Union (PATU) have announced a total of six events in the build-up to the this year's Pan American Games in Santiago that will determine seeding of the team kyorugui event, which is due to make its debut at the event in the Chilean capital. 

The first of the events is the Pan-Am Series II in Rio de Janeiro, which started in Rio de Janeiro on Friday (March 24) and is due to conclude today. 

This will be followed by two tournaments in the Dominican Republic,  the I Team Kyorugui Pan American Championship and the Dominican Open, scheduled to place at the Juan Pablo Duarte Pavilion in Santo Domingo on April 28 and 29.

The Costa Rica Open will be next, due to to take place from June 8 to 11 in Heredia, which has just hosted Central American and 2023 Caribbean Games Qualifier San Salvador and the Pan-Am Series I.

The fifth event is set to be the 2023 President's Cup, which will be held in South America for the first time in history on September 23 and 24.

The final qualifier is due to take place from October 11 to 15 at the Havana Open and will serve as the closing tournament to determine the seedings for each group.

Team kyorugui has been added to the Pan American Games programme at Santiago 2023, taking the total number of medal events to a record 13 ©PATU
Team kyorugui has been added to the Pan American Games programme at Santiago 2023, taking the total number of medal events to a record 13 ©PATU

The teams with three or more athletes that achieved qualification in the Continental Qualifier in Rio de Janeiro last Wednesday and Thursday (March 22 and 23), will automatically qualify for Santiago 2023.

The taekwondo competition at Pan American Games is scheduled to take place at the Contact Sports Center from October 21 to 24.

A total of 136 athletes are due to compete in 13 medal events, one more than at the last Pan American Games in Lima thanks to the addition of team kyorugui.

At Lima 2019, the United States topped the medals table.

They won nine medals, four of them gold, pipping Mexico with seven, also claiming four gold.