The 5th International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Cup of Taekwon-Do was hosted by Jamaica at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from August 26-30, 2014. Jamaica saw in excess of 2000 visitors to its shores for this beautiful event. The Championship had participants from 33 countries, 58 clubs, & 678 athletes, competing in exciting matches in individual and team events in Sparring, Patterns, Pre-Arranged Sparring, Technical Breaking, and Power Breaking.
The 5th International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Cup of Taekwon-Do was hosted by Jamaica at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from August 26-30, 2014. Jamaica saw in excess of 2000 visitors to its shores for this beautiful event. The Championship had participants from 33 countries, 58 clubs, & 678 athletes, competing in exciting matches in individual and team events in Sparring, Patterns, Pre-Arranged Sparring, Technical Breaking, and Power Breaking.
The participating countries included Afghanistan, Anguilla, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States of America and Uzbekistan.
The World Cup was the 1st of its kind to be hosted in Jamaica and it was well received by the Jamaican government, the city of Montego Bay, the locals, as well as the Taekwon-Do practitioners on the island. The event attracted several sponsors, the Jamaica Tourist Board, The Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa, The Holiday Inn Sun Spree Resort, RUI Montego Bay, The Montego Bay Convention Centre, McKay Security, Alliance Investment & Management Services, Vivobarefoot, Top Ten, GranMarc, Mighty Fist, Fuji Mae and Adidas.
The Championship was a huge success because of the participation of the athletes, coaches, umpires, volunteers, family, friends, the ITF tournament, umpire and software committees, the local organizing committee, the board of directors of the ITF, the board of directors of the Jamaica Taekwon-Do Association, the local media, sponsors, the Jamaican government and other well-wishers.
Athletes and coaches, after arriving on the beautiful island of Jamaica, were definitely in a business like mode. Tuesday August 26, 2014 between the hours of 8:00 am and 1:00pm saw the athletes being weighed in without problems.
At 4:00pm the coaches assembled on the grounds of the Convention Centre for their final preparations for the Taekwon-Do World Cup. The rules of the competition were discussed in detail by the ITF Umpire and Tournament Committee members and clarifications that were needed were ascertained. The coaches were satisfied and all was set for the start of the 1st day of championship. NO PROBLEM MAN!
The opening ceremony for the 2014 ITF World Cup took place on Wednesday August 27, 2014, after the 1st day of competition with a local television personality being the host. There was also an entertainment segment which saw the performance of some home grown internationally known artists.
No one would mistake that they were not at the ITF World Cup! On Wednesday August 27, 2014 it was full speed ahead; Focus speed, timing, talent, passion, heart, love, anticipation,awesomeness… were just some of the feelings that filled the competition hall. This excitement and energy was non-stop. All 4 days of competition bought more and more passion to the rings and to the championship.
On Friday August 29, 2014, select finals were packaged for a night’s show which was staged from 8:00pm to 10:30 pm. The sparring finals from 9:30pm were aired live on one Jamaican Television CVM TV. The Jamaican public had the opportunity to see some of the best athletes perform on local soil live for the 1sttime. This was well received. The team events were concentrated on the final day Saturday August 30, 2014.
The ITF congress was convened and ran smoothly on the evening of Thursday August 28, 2014 (9:30 pm to 12:00 am). The representatives from the countries enjoyed the comfort of an excellent meeting setting compliments of the Montego Bay Convention Centre. The matters as per meeting agenda were discussed and the member countries were updated on matters of the ITF. Items for clarification were presented and addressed.
On Saturday the Championship came to a close after the final event, after which there was the presentation of special awards to the Officials of the championship. The opportunity was taken to acknowledge the dedicated volunteers who worked to ensure the World Cup ran smoothly. The ITF President brought the curtains down and gave his closing remarks on a well-run event.
The 2014 World Cup was staged incident free on the beautiful shores of Jamaica. The feedback was that all had a wonderful time and the competition was electric. Athletes, coaches, umpires, officials, supporters, and government officials provided positive reviews of the championship and expressed satisfaction with the staging of the championship. The final results may be viewed online by categories (http://wcup2014.pztkd.lublin.pl/)
Participants were sighted heading to popular vacation spots on the island to ensure that their experience in Jamaica was a complete one. Special Thanks to all who made the event possible, for the encouragement, the support and definitely the role each played to make this a successful championship. RESPECT MAN!!!
Report in PDF format
Youtube Highlists Video of the event
Photogallery of G 10 Photography
5th ITF World Cup, Montego Bay, Jamaica
