GB Taekwondo’s performance director, Gary Hall, is confident he has given British fighters the best possible chance of medals at London 2012 with his selection for the Olympics.

The British Olympic Association granted Taekwondo the full four places with automatic qualification home nation status, and Hall has now narrowed down his selection to the under-68kgs and under-80kgs for men and the under-57kgs and under-67kg for women.

That means the world champion Sarah Stevenson and Wales youngster Jade Jones, world silver medalist at under-57kgs, are in pole position to lead the British team in London.

The world No1, Aaron Cook, who had a disappointing showing in Korea, should be selected for the men’s under-80kg class, and Liverpool’s Martin Stamper, who claimed a world bronze medal, is in line for the under-68kg class.

However, that means the Manchester fighter Michael Harvey, who won silver at the world championships in under-63kgs and world No3 Bianca Walkden, just back from a serious injury, will miss out.

Hall said: “Clearly we would love to be able to select GB athletes in each of the male and female categories, giving us eight medal chances, but we only have four spots available and therefore it is a very difficult decision to reach.

“We have had to select our weight categories for the Games now so as to allow the World Taekwondo Federation to stage their global and continental qualification events over the coming months.

“We have looked at performances across recent international events as well as the major championships such as the Europeans, and the recent world championships, and have selected the weight categories that we feel give us the best chance of medal success in London next year.

“We have a fantastic squad in Manchester as well as other talented athletes across the country and I am confident that there will be keen competition within the squad to fill the places on Team GB over the next 12 months.

“We also shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that our performance programme is also geared at taking a longer-term approach to developing talent which we hope will deliver success at future Games, such as Rio 2016.”

Hopes are high that Taekwondo can build on Stevenson’s bronze from Beijing when the Olympics come to London.

The Team GB chef de mission, Andy Hunt, added: “This announcement allows GB Taekwondo to build on their fantastic performances at the world championships this month.

“Taekwondo is a very exciting and dynamic sport with a great atmosphere in the venue so anybody who has bought tickets to these weight categories at the London 2012 Olympics can be sure that they will see the best of British challenge for a medal next year.”