The first week of September 2023 is known to our ITF members as the week of the ITF World Championships 2023 in Tampere, Finland. For our ITF management, it was more than that. A week with a densely packed schedule to work on many different items.
At the ITF General Assembly (aka ITF Congress), the then to-be-elected executive board with the president (GM Weiler), senior vice president (GM Norman), vice president (Master van Driessche), and treasurer (Master Oros Duek) presented a list of objectives and goals for the term 2023-2027 (see also here). The second item on the list was the global development of ITF Taekwon-Do with a special focus on the development of Asia.
Only three days after the election, the executive board started working on this objective together with representatives from Asian National Associations. The executive board (GM Weiler, GM Norman, Master van Driessche, Master Oros Duek), the ITF Secretary General (Master Loboda) and two board members (Master Lear and Sbn Lenhardtova) discussed the situation and possible next steps in the Asia.
The representatives of China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam reported the status of ITF Taekwon-Do in their country. While some countries have only a few ITF schools, others have a strong organization but a bad economical situation. Some have official recognition by the government, others don’t – and because of a missing governmental recognition some countries are prohibited in organizing national competitions.
The three main issues remain the missing official recognition, a bad economical situation, and only few ITF activities in the region. While Asia is known to be the largest continent, even for activities in a nearby region is still a long travel. The fruitful discussions of the national representatives with the ITF management found several working points for the next year.
While the ITF well known offers organizational and administrative help for a long time, the release of financial assets for developing new countries was announced in the meeting. In addition, the Asian countries agreed to working together and “big countries should support small countries”. In addition, it was clear that the entire skill set for developing ITF in Asia is available – in the ITF itself but more importantly in the National Associations, too. The growth will come step-by-step as in Africa. Especially if “we work as a team”, the main theme for the upcoming term 2023-2027.
A report on this topic with an outside perspective is available on insidethegames.biz.
Team photos World Championships 2023
