Mexico’s Teodoro Guerrero Bonilla captured the top honors at the 1st WTF Photo Contest. Another Mexican Jesus Zurita Salazar was selected as the second-prize winner. A 10-member WTF review board, including five outside experts, met at the WTF headquarters on April 14 to thoroughly examine a final 40 out of a total of 121 photos submitted by 49 persons around the world between March 3 and 31. The theme of the 1st WTF Photo Contest was “The Spirit of Taekwondo” and the WTF received via online (www.wtf.org/photo) photos related to the World Taekwondo Qualification Tournament for the 1st Youth Oly
Iran clinched the overall men’s title by winning three gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the 8th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships, which were wrapped up in a great success in Tijuana, Mexico on March 9, 2010. Korea came next with three gold medals and one bronze medal, followed by Turkey, Russia and Mexico in the men’s division. In the 16-year history of the WTF World Junior Championships, it marked the first time that Korea failed to defend its overall men’s title. In the women’s category, Korea defended its overall title by grabbing four golds, two silvers and one
The World Taekwondo Federation approved Oman’s new membership and the revised WTF Competition Rules, among others, at its General Assembly in Tijuana, Mexico on March 2, 2010.With the addition, the WTF has a global membership of 190, ranking among the top 10 International Sport Federations. The WTF targets to raise the figure over 200 in a few years.The revised WTF Competition Rules contain detailed guidelines on the use of electronic body protectors and an instant video replay system at competition. The new rules stipulate that coaches shall not leave the 1 meter by 1 meter marked coach’s zon
The Mexican city of Tijuana is ready for the upcoming WTF World Taekwondo Qualification Tournament for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and the 8th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships.The World Qualification Tournament for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games will take place at the Multi-Purpose Gymnasium of the High Performance Sports Center of Baja California on March 3-4. At the same venue, the 8th World Junior Championships will be held on March 6-9.“About 320 athletes from 85 countries are expected to participate in the qualification tournament, while the World Junior Championships will dra
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the Worldwide Olympic Partner for Wireless Communications Equipment, and internationally acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog, whose work has drawn attention to the dramatic melting of the world’s glaciers, joined today with 30 grade seven students from Mackenzie Elementary to conduct an Eco-Class highlighting the urgent fight against climate change. The class was held at Olympic Rendezvous @ Samsung (OR@S) located in David Lam Park. “These children represent the future of our planet and through our own actions, we can inspire them to reduce their env
The World Taekwondo Federation signed a collaborative agreement with the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts in a ceremony in Seoul, Korea on Feb. 5, 2010. The agreement was signed between WTF President Chungwon Choue and Mr. Il-Hoon Park, director general of the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, at the latter’s office. Under the agreement, the two sides will cooperate for the promotion of taekwondo and Korea’s traditional music at home and abroad. The two sides also agreed to make joint efforts especially in the WTF’s ongoing Taekwondo Peace Corps proj
The World Taekwondo Federation appointed Miss Pongchanok Kanklab, the Miss Thailand World 2009, as a “Goodwill Ambassador” of the WTF in a ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand on Jan. 23, 2010. For the WTF, it marked the second of its kind after the WTF’s appointment of Mr. Dave Mustaine, the leader of the U.S. legendary thrash metal bank Megadeth, as the WTF Goodwill Ambassador in Seoul, Korea on Oct. 27, 2007. Miss Pongchanok, 19, was crowned the Miss Thailand World in 2009. She is a 2nd Kukkiwon Dan black-belt holder and served as a national taekwondo team member. In the ceremony, WTF President Ch
Oman has become the 190th member nation of the world’s taekwondo governing body. On Jan. 4, the Oman Taekwondo Committee, headed by Brig. Gen. Ali Salim Al-Sinani, submitted necessary membership documents to the WTF Secretariat. After reviewing them, the WTF granted the Asian country a provisional membership status. “Pursuant to Article 4 of the Rules and Regulations of the World Taekwondo Federation, the WTF recognizes the Oman Taekwondo Committee as its provisional member,” the WTF said in a letter dated on Jan. 6 to the president of the Oman Taekwondo Committee. Article 4 stipulates that “A
Dear taekwondo family members: I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the entire taekwondo family around the world for helping promote our beloved sport and for supporting the World Taekwondo Federation. In the year 2009, we saw many significant achievements for taekwondo as well as several noteworthy developments at the World Taekwondo Federation. First, taekwondo was confirmed as one of the 26 “core” sports for the 2016 Olympic Games at the IOC session in Copenhagen on October 8. I wish to take this opportunity to thank our worldwide taekwondo family for your dedication to promo
Esteemed Speaker of the National Assembly, esteemed Members of the National Assembly. Thank you for your kind introduction, Mr. Speaker. Please accept also my sincere gratitude for inviting me to speak before you today. It is indeed an honour to address this august chamber. And thank you to the Korean people for the warm hospitality you have shown Laureen and I during this, our first visit to your beautiful country. Let me also acknowledge some of my colleagues who are with us today. First, Senator Yonah Kim-Martin. Senator Kim-Martin is the first Korean-Canadian to hold national public office