Dear ITF Members!
International Taekwon-Do Federation would like to inform with regret that on February 21st, 2021 the ITF Governing Body took decision that due to the Corona pandemic the 16th Junior and 22nd Senior ITF World Taekwon-do Championships planned for Tampere, Finland in 2021, has been postponed till 4-10th September 2023. Therefore, the titles of ITF Taekwon-Do World Champion will not be awarded this year.
The basis for this difficult decision was the safety of our members, restrictions for particular countries caused by Covid-19 and the request of the Organising Committee of the World Championships, who presented relevant factors connected with the development of Corona pandemic worldwide:
- The organization of the events for more than 10 people is at the moment prohibited in Finland and no information can be received when the restrictions are waived.
- Globally, vaccinations will not be broadly available before the competition date
(6-12 September 2021). The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that adequate herd immunity will be achieved not earlier than by the end of 2021. This is caused by difficulties in vaccine production which slows down considerably the process of vaccination worldwide. - Due to strict travel restrictions or closed borders many countries will not be allowed to attend the event in 2021.
- The low number of flights, high prices of the tickets as well as many different travel restrictions such as mandatory COVID-19 tests or quarantine periods will be an obstacle for those traveling to Finland.
With that in mind, it was incredibly difficult for us to have made this decision to postpone the World Championships, as we were hopeful that a turnaround in the pandemic crisis would be initiated by the worldwide vaccination campaigns, but the time factor currently speaks against it.
However, taking the above mentioned into account, there was no alternative but to postpone this major event for the health and safety of all concerned.
In closing, the ITF Governing Body and the Organizing Committee ask for your support and understanding in this difficult decision which I would like to emphasise once again, was taken at the request of the organisers.
Yours sincerely,
On behalf of the ITF Governing Body
GM Paul Weiler
President
Tip to Keep #21 Master Valérie Forget
