Benidorm, Tuesday 29 September 2026. The ITF World Cup 2026 is under way. After the Opening Ceremony at Palau d’Esports l’Illa de Benidorm, all eleven rings were busy from 09:30 until the evening. By the end of the day, 39 categories had been decided and athletes from 18 different nations had won gold.
Opening Ceremony
The morning began in central, elevated Ring 1 with the official Opening Ceremony, welcoming athletes, coaches, umpires and guests from 57 nations and delegations to the Costa Blanca.
With a short delay due to technical issues in the hall piling up the previous days, the Opening Ceremony started with spectaular dance performance by a local group. Although the World Cup is not a national event but a club event, the representatives of 57 countries filled up the hall and showed the huge diversity in nations and cultures coming together in Benidorm.
After the Spanish anthem, the following highlights were for sure the opening speech by ITF President, GM Paul Weiler, around the central theme: the 60th anniversary of ITF’s founding. As a special tribute to #ITF60, Master Suska and Sbn Farigu, two of the most technically proficient pattern performers of our time, displayed the last ITF pattern, Tong-Il, on the main stage in perfect harmony.
The emotional core of the Opening Ceremony was awarding GM Kim Jong-Chan, a founding member of the ITF 60 years ago and designer of the traditional ITF logo and ITF tree, with the Outstanding Pioneer Award. Letters of special recognition were also issued to GM Jeon Young-Man, a delegate from World Taekwondo, and ASkhat Akibaev, the founder of the World Nomad Games. In addition, two new ITF Grand Masters received their diplomas and official white ties, symbolizing their new status in the ITF community: GM Kenneth Wheatley (promotion date: May 7, 2026) and GM Giovanni Cecconato (promotion date: September 21, 2026).
After the Opening Ceremony and solving the last technical issues by the technical experts of the Umpire IT team, the first matches of the ITF World Cup 2026 got under way.
The competition day in numbers
- Biggest category: Male 12–14 Pattern 1st Dan, with 126 competitors. Its pools ran across Rings 4–11 in the morning, and the final was held in Ring 1.
- Biggest sparring division: Male 15–17 60–65 kg, with 65 competitors.
- Leading Countries: 🇦🇷 Argentina 6x Gold, 🇮🇪 Ireland 5x Gold, 🇺🇦 Ukraine 4x Gold, 🇫🇮 Finland 3x Gold.
All rings are available to re-watch on the ITF Youtube channel.
ITF General Assembly 2026 – Decisions, Development and Looking Ahead
