Officials urge support to keep taekwondo in Games

Leaders from taekwondo governing bodies have come together calling for united support to maintain the sport’s global status.

“We’re now working together to secure taekwondo’s berth in the Olympics,” said Park Sun-kyu, vice minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Park sat down with taekwondo officials, including World Taekwondo Federation President Choue Chung-won, in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss ways of making the Korean martial art a “core” Olympic sport.

Also joining at the table were Bae Jhong-shin, chairman of the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, Kukkiwon President Kang Won-sik and Cho Yong-ki, vice president of Korea Taekwondo Association.

The officials agreed Wednesday to establish a consultative conference and hold a regular meeting for the development of taekwondo.

“I feel we are at a crucial stage. Taekwondo’s future will be decided in 2013,” said Park.

He was referring to the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation of its program scheduled in 2013. The ICO will select 25 “core” sports from the current 26 sports for the 2020 Olympics in September 2013.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said earlier that the “core” sports can only disappear from Olympics “due to exceptional reasons: withdrawal, corruption, drugging or dramatic loss of popularity.”

“We cannot assure whether taekwondo can be in the 2020 Olympics, and that is why we need work together,” Park said. He pointed out that joints efforts from the governing bodies will be crucial for the sport’s fate in 2013.

“There have been some conflicts among the local governing bodies, but now we must work together,” he added.

WTF President Choue said the imminent task for taekwondo will be the London 2012 Olympics.

“We’ve made several changes to make it a more dynamic sport,” Choue said.

He noted that London will be the first Olympics that will introduce the video replay system and new point rule.

“The competition venue size will also be reduced from 10 meters by 10 meters to 8 meters by 8 meters to make it more exciting,” Choue said.

The WTF chief added that he is confident that taekwondo will remain on the Olympic program.

“There was some criticism over Korea’s dominance in the past, but taekwondo is now truly a global sport,” he added.

According to Choue, the WTF is now the sixth largest international sports federation with 200 member nations.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, there were some questions raised over the government’s support for taekwondo, noting it can dilute the meaning of sport and can have an adverse effect on the IOC members.

Vice Minister Park, however, said: “Taekwondo is not just a sport, it’s a national pride.”

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)