The 2nd WTF World Taekwondo Championships kicked off in a ceremony in Incheon, west of Seoul, on Nov. 4, 2007.

The three-day event, which took place at the Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium, drew about 500 athletes and officials from 50 countries.

The WTF-promoted Poomsae Championships, which launched last year as part of the WTF’s efforts to further expand the global taekwondo population, featured 16 divisions.

On the opening day of the championships, a trio of German females (Gerber Petra, Manschwetus Clivia and Turner Imke) won the gold medal in the 2nd female team division. The silver went to Spain (Asuncien Martin Hernandez, Reyes De Miguel Renedo and Trinidad Rodriquez Garcia), while the bronze was shared by Australia (Rebecca Green, Carmela Hartnett and Melissa Kenihan) and the United States (Akiko Reyes, Noreen Thackrey and Bardara Brand).

Players will compete to clinch 10 gold medals on Nov. 5 and five other gold medals on Nov. 6. The final two days of competition will be broadcast live on the KBS-N channel.

Korea, which swept the 16 gold medals at last year’s Poomsae Championships, decided not to send its players this time to the three categories - the women’s 2nd team, the 1st pair and the 2nd pair divisions.

“Poomsae is a discipline of taekwondo that combines dynamism, accuracy and grace. My vision for poomsae is for it to be a global sport-for-all that will help create an inclusive society for all walks of like,” said Mr. Dai-soon Lee, vice president of the WTF, during the opening ceremony on behalf of WTF President Chungwon Choue, who is now abroad.

“Through poomsae, we can attain the basic spirit of taekwondo-self-discipline and mutual respect. I am happy to inform you that poomsaw will be most likely included, together with kyorugi, in the official program of the 2008 World University Taekwondo Championships,” he said.

In the speech, he continued to say, “The competition and refereeing standards were of the highest quality, such that there was not a single protest filed during the three-day WTF World Taekwondo Qualification Tournament for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games held at Manchester, United Kingdom, the first ever in the WTF’s 34-year history.”

The opening ceremony featured various cultural and taekwondo events, including a taekwondo demonstration by the Korean national team and a demonstration of new competition poomsae.