Cook ready for Olympic taekwondo 'fight-off'

World number one Aaron Cook one is prepared for a fight-off with British rival Lutalo Muhammad if that's his only way of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games. European champion Cook was controversially overlooked by GB Taekwondo, with Muhammad dropping down a weight class to compete at the Games. At the third time of asking, the British Olympic Association (BOA) ratified world number 59 Muhammad's nomination. Cook's lawyers Harbottle and Lewis will send a "letter before action" to the BOA in the next 24 hours, outlining their legal case. That letter will include new evidence the GB Taekwondo selection process was flawed, according to Cook's agent Jamie Cunningham. If there is no progress from the BOA or the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), who are undertaking their own review of the process, by the start of next week then Cook will take a legal challenge to either the Court of Arbitration for Sport or London's High Court. But Cunningham believes it is possible for the Olympic competition to be expanded to 17 athletes, with Cook and Muhammad meeting in a preliminary round. "I feel I am world number one and I don't need to prove myself but if that is my last hope of going to the Olympic Games then I would fight him any time any place anywhere," Cook said. Cunningham has suggested the possibility of a preliminary round Olympic fight-off in an email to the WTF. "Our understanding is there is a set-up where there could be a 17th athlete incorporated into the current structure," Cunningham said. "If the WTF wanted one of the biggest sporting occasions of the Olympic Games -- Lutalo against Aaron in a preliminary round -- we would probably do that. "We know how complicated it would be to get to that point. We have raised it as an idea for the sport. "Other governing bodies worldwide have supported the idea of a fight-off between two athletes to settle a selection procedure. "It would be one of the biggest moments of the Olympic Games. It is a great idea. "Politically and constitutionally within the Olympics there are thousands of barriers to get through before the idea sees the light of day. "It may be it gets rejected but we have raised it as a great idea for the sport."