[By NBC-1TV K, Y Yi] VIENNA,
Austria (April 5, 2019) - World
Taekwondo (WT) and the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) today performed
a joint-demonstration in Vienna,
in which the headquarters of the ITF is located, to mark the ongoing cooperation between the two federations and
celebrate taekwondo’s 25th anniversary of joining the Olympic
programme.
Today’s event is the first of three joint-events between WT and the ITF that will be held in Austria and Switzerland over the next week. It is the first time that WT and ITF have held a joint-demonstration in Vienna, home of the ITF headquarters since 1985.
The ITF invited the WT Demonstration Team to take part in the joint-demonstration in Vienna, where both teams performed an array of different taekwondo skills. Kicking, breaking, solo patterns and self-defence were all presented.
World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue said:
“This is an important week for
taekwondo. It is a week in which we will celebrate our 25-year history as part
of the Olympic Games but also our future of stronger cooperation with the ITF. It
is a great pleasure to be here in Vienna for this historic WT-ITF joint
demonstration. Vienna is a capital famed for its beauty, its history and its
culture but also for its taekwondo, as home to the ITF headquarters.
“We are here today, not representing WT or ITF. We are here today as one taekwondo family, under the spirit of “One World, One Taekwondo.”
International Taekwondo Federation President Ri Yong Son added:
“The joint demonstration performances of the two organizations in Vienna is hoped to serve as an occasion to further strengthen the tie between the two organizations with friendship and harmony.”
The demonstration was attended
by senior officials from across sport as well as the diplomatic officials based
in Vienna. The audiences were transfixed by the impressive taekwondo
performance, which included powerful board-breaking and acrobatic kicks.
The demonstration follows the two federations signing a Protocol of Accord during the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games under the guidance of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Since the signing, WT and ITF have organised joint events in Chelyabinsk in 2015; Muju in 2017; Pyeongchang in 2018; and Pyongyang in 2018.