(Beijing, February. 28) -- Chin'a Zhu Guo has got a brighter Olympic outlook now after a victory over his compatriot Pan Dongdong in the men's -80kg quarterfinal of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Taekwondo International Invitational Tournament.

The Chinese national taekwondo team has to wait until mid March to fill out its Olympic roster, but it has already decided on the events to participate in. Among the Olympic candidates, Chen Zhong and Wu Jingyu have made statements in the women's +67kg and -49kg events, respectively, while Liu Xiaobo has dominated the men's +80kg event domestically.

In the men's -80kg, both Zhu Guo and his teammate Pan Dongdong are phenomenons in China.

Zhu Guo showed better form than Pan this afternoon by winning the Chinese Derby 3-1 in the -80kg quarterfinal. According to Zhao Lei, an official with the Taekwondo Administrative Center of China's General Administration of Sport, the results of the "Good Luck Beijing" pregames event will help choose the Olympic athletes. Consequently, Zhu's performance today and his fifth finish in last year's World Championships have made him a hot favorite for the upcoming Games.

Now the last Olympic selective trial for Zhu will be the National Championships in March, by which he would surely fight hard to secure a berth in the Olympics this August.

(Credit: The Official Website of "Good Luck Beijing" Sport Events)