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| Seen above is the promotional banner of the Virtual International Taekwondo Championships event. / Courtesy of MasTKD |
More than 300 athletes from 20 countries participated in the COVID-19 Goodwill Cooperation Service (GCS) Virtual International Taekwondo Championships, World Taekwondo (WT) said Wednesday.
The four-day event was held online from June 4 and broadcast live on YouTube in a bid to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19. It was organized by GCS International and the U.S. World Class Taekwondo Association under the sponsorship of MasTKD and other taekwondo bodies.
The championships featured athletes participating in individual, freestyle and team Poomsae events. Poomsae is a defined pattern of Taekwondo's defense-and-attack movements.
The 20 participating countries were Aruba, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Island, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the United States.
According to the WT, 10 refugees at the WT's humanitarian center in Amman, Jordan, also participated in the event. Nine students from Nepal, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, who are part of the WT Taekwondo Cares scholarship program, joined the event.
In a bid to referee the competitions, seven WT judges also volunteered for the online championships.
GCS International Portland Chapter President Selma Li stated that a portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to those who suffering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. GCS International Portland sponsored the online event.
WT and GCS International President Choue Chung-won expressed his gratitude for Li's effort.
"I appreciate Selma Li for organizing the first COVID-19 Virtual Taekwondo Championships. Upon the current COVID-19 pandemic, most countries are under lockdown situation, and taekwondo practitioners are under home training," Choue said.
"I also appreciate the refugee taekwondo students at the Jordan humanitarian center as well as the scholarship students in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Cambodia who participated in the championships. In these difficult times, we all have to further promote GCS International's spirit to the world. Taekwondo can be an effective tool to help promote world peace."
