[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] Refugee Taekwondo athlete Wael Fawaz Al-Farraj made history at the Arab Cup 2022, currently taking place in Fujairah, UAE, as the first Syrian refugee athlete living in the Azraq Camp in Jordan to compete in an international tournament outside the country. The 19-year-old, competing under the World Taekwondo flag, is competing in the two-day tournament and will go onto compete in the 9th Fujairah Open on February 6-8 in the M-74kg category. Wael was the first refugee to graduate to a black belt from the Azraq Humanitarian Taekwondo Center back in 2017, paving the way for a
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] BEIJING, China (Jan. 3, 2022) - Natsiraishe Maritsa, an 18-year-old Taekwondo trainer from Zimbabwe, has today been recognised for her selfless efforts to use Taekwondo to empower young girls in her community, as she was awarded the Winner for Africa at the IOC Women and Sport Awards. Maritsa drew global attention in 2021 as the story spread of how she was fighting child marriage in Zimbabwe through a combination of Taekwondo and discussions about the dangers of early marriage. Maritsa founded the Vulnerable Underaged People’s Auditorium Initiative in 2018 and teaches youn
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] SEOUL, Korea (Jan. 28, 2022) - The World Taekwondo Council today awarded the 2022 World Taekwondo Championships to Cancun and the 2023 World Taekwondo Cadet Championships to Sarajevo. The decision was taken in a vote during today’s online extraordinary Council meeting which focused on restarting World Taekwondo Competitions. The Council considered bids from Baku (Azerbaijan), Beirut (Lebanon), and Cancun (Mexico) for the World Championships with representatives from each of the three cities delivering presentations during the meeting. Following the presentation an electron
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] SEOUL, Korea (January 7, 2022) - World Taekwondo today announced the winners of its Best of 2021 after receiving thousands of online votes in record time for the awards, which recognise the outstanding Olympic and Paralympic athletes, referees and coaches of the past year. The voting was opened to the public on 4 January and was set to remain open for ten days but it took just two days for the maximum number of votes to be submitted. It was the first time that members of the public could vote for their favourite Paralympians after Para Taekwondo made its Paralympic debut i
[[By NBC-1TV K, Y, Yi] SEOUL, Korea (January 4, 2022) - World TaekwondoPresident Chungwon Choue today began the new year with a meeting of theContinental Unions and invited Committee chairs to emphasise the importance ofeveryone working together for a stronger World Taekwondo. During his opening remarks, President Choue said: “The reason we are meeting today is because 2022 isgoing to be a very important year for us. After a difficult two years in 2020and 2021, this is the year when World Taekwondo will restart our operations. Wehave used these two years to reset and rethink: how can we become
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] SEOUL, Korea (November 23, 2021) - World Taekwondo today officially recognised Athletica Vatican – Vatican Taekwondo with the city state becoming the 211th member of the International Federation. Athletica Vatican – Vatican Taekwondo was approved as the latest member of the taekwondo family via an electronic vote of the World Taekwondo General Assembly. World Taekwondo is only one of two International Federations with a Vatican sport entity among its membership. World Taekwondo has a developed a close relationship with the Vatican in recent years through their shared commi
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] SEOUL, Korea (November 22, 2021) - The World Taekwondo Peace Festival was held in Seoul, Korea on November 22, 2021 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Olympic Taekwondo and the 40th anniversary of the UN International Day of Peace. The event, which took place at the Seosomun Shrine History Museum, was jointly promoted by World Taekwondo (WT), GCS International and the U.N. Association of the Republic of Korea. The peace festival, which lasted about 2 hours, featured a 20-minute Taekwondo performance by the WT Demonstration Team, an opening ceremony, and a one-hour peace
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] (November 19, 2021) - The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board today announced that Para Taekwondo’s medal events will be increased to 10 and the athlete quota increased to 120 for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The announcement came as the IPC Governing board approved the complete medal events programme and athlete quotas for Paris 2024 following consultation with the IOC and Paris 2024 Organising Committee. The change marks a significant increase for Para Taekwondo from Tokyo 2020 where the debut sport had six medal events and an athlete quota of 72
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] (November 19, 2021) - The first ever World Taekwondo Women’s Open Championships is set to get underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 25, and will see some of the world’s best female athletes compete for the coveted inaugural title. The three-day G-4 event will be the first Taekwondo event hosted in Saudi Arabia and is expected to attract around 170 athletes from 36 NOCs and the refugee team. As many as 20 Olympians from Tokyo 2020 are due to compete in Riyadh including Olympic silver medallists Lauren Williams from Great Britain and Tatian Minina from the ROC, and br
[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] SEOUL, Korea (November 17, 2021) - The final preparations for the World Taekwondo Peace Festival are underway with the special event aiming to help raise public awareness of the importance of promoting world peace through social responsibility and the Olympic sport of Taekwondo. The World Taekwondo Peace Festival will take place on November 22 at the Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul and is set to commemorate 20 years of Olympic taekwondo and the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the U.N. International Day of Peace. The International Day of Peace was proposed