WTF President's New Year Message for 2011
Datuk Samson
WTF President’s New Year Message for 2011
Dear global taekwondo family members,
I would like to send my best wishes to all of you for a wonderful New Year full of
joy, happiness and good health.
The year 2010 was highlighted by numerous milestones. Taekwondo was on the
official programs of two inaugural events: the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore
and the SportAccord World Combat Games in Beijing, China. Furthermore, it
was announced that taekwondo will be part of the 2011 European Masters
Games and the 2013 World Masters Games. Our beloved sport also achieved the
status of a Category 2 sport in the Commonwealth Games.
The 2nd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia and
the WTF World Taekwondo Tour 2010 Moscow were also great successes. The
Moscow World Taekwondo Tour featured a five-member team competition
between Korea and Russia, capturing the attention from both spectators and
media from around the world.
All of these accomplishments shed light on our bright prospective. While we can
look back on days passed and be proud of what we have already achieved, we
must know that they are mere stepping stones for the great accomplishments
that are yet to come.
The global taekwondo family will see a schedule jam-packed with important
events in 2011, including the WTF World Taekwondo Championships in Gyeongju,
Korea on May 1-6. World and continental taekwondo qualification tournaments
for the 2012 London Olympic Games are also scheduled.
In 2011, the WTF will put top priority on promotion of our taekwondo events,
thus helping show the world the fairness in refereeing and the dynamism of
taekwondo. The use of a protector and scoring system (PSS), formerly electronic
body protectors, and the instant video replay system at the WTF’s major
championships has significantly minimized controversy related to referee
decisions. The WTF will also make full use of its liaison office in Lausanne,
Switzerland for a more effective communication with the international sports
community and a successful launch of the WTF Global Membership System
and the WTF Mandatory International Athlete License.
Under the New Year mission of “World Peace through Taekwondo,” the WTF will
launch a campaign to better serve humanity. Taekwondo’s intrinsic value lies in its
inherent virtues and life skills that lead to the development and achievement of
goals and dreams. It is for this purpose that the WTF will give financial and
technical support for the establishment of taekwondo programs in orphanages
and refugee camps around the world. I encourage our member national
associations to join.
The WTF will put an equal emphasis on its stepped-up Taekwondo Peace Corps
activities and the proposed “Taekwondo for All in Africa” project. The Africa
project will greatly help promote taekwondo in the African region, which will give
hope and dreams to youths in need.
The WTF will also pay special attention to its youth education programs through
its active participation in and operation of the World Youth Taekwondo Camp,
which was launched in 2009 as an annual event.
As we embark on this journey, milestones have been set to guide us on our way
to be the most exemplary International Sports Federation. High on our agenda
for the future is securing taekwondo a permanent position in the Olympic
Games in 2020 and beyond. The WTF will also strive to place taekwondo on the
official program of the Paralympic Games.
Achieving any of these goals will take great efforts on the part of every member
of the global taekwondo family. We must band together to further bring the
sport we love to the world. Every member of our global taekwondo family has his
or her role to play and we will know that together, we can make it better. We
are one and the future is ours to seize together.
Once again I extend my best wishes to our entire taekwondo family for the year
2011.
Chungwon Choue
President
World Taekwondo Federation
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