제2회 서부아프리카 태권도 대회에서

Distinguished guests and

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

I thank you all for your presence.

 

        I am glad that the second Korean Ambassador’s International Taekwondo Championship is being held in the capital city of Abuja.

 

        Around this time last year, the 1^st edition of this tournament was held, during which time spectators were thrilled with a pure taste of Taekwondo which is a unique Korean traditional martial art that is one of the oldest Asian martial arts dating back over 2,000 years.

 

 The then Honourable Minister of sports Engr. Sani Ndanusa among other dignitaries watched with amazement the unmatchable skills of Taekwondo demonstration displayed by the famous Kukiwon Taekwondo team brought-in from Korea. Kukiwon is the Headquarter of Taekwondo.

 

 But unfortunately this year they are not with us. This time, however, we will see taekwondo demonstrations by the Korean Cultural Centre and French International School Taekwondo team. This also will be a good chance to savour the techniques and exquisite movements of Taekwondo

 

The first tournament was said to have been a very successful tournament. After the tournament, the best two athletes from that competition alongside three other Nigerian athletes had been sent to Korea on training tour in July 2010.

 

        I am very proud that today we open the 2^nd Korean Ambassador’s International Taekwondo Championship with much more prizes.

 

        Taekwondo stands as a truly global sport. Under the World Taekwondo Federation, there are five continental unions with a total of 191 member nations and around 70 million people who practice Taekwondo.

 

 Debuted as a global demonstration sport at the  1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Taekwondo was made an official sport for the first time at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, featured in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and will be at London 2012.

 

       This international Championship attended by athletes from Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Niger, Gabon will serve as a stepping stone to further facilitate the progress of Taekwondo in the Western African region.

 

I sincerely hope that this championship will continue to be held annually, and will contribute immensely to the development of Taekwondo in Nigeria and West Africa in general.

 

      Taking this opportunity I would like to introduce a few other measures we are doing in Nigeria. We will donate Taekwondo world class equipments to primary schools in Nigeria. And in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports we will bring highly experienced coach from Korea to train the Nigeria Taekwondo team for London 2012. It is also our plan to bring an experienced young taekwondo coachs to also train primary and secondary school students in Nigeria.

 

I hope that through the development of Taekwondo in West Africa, bilateral relations including diplomatic, political, economical and cultural relation between Korea and West African countries would be strengthened.

 

I also hope this competition will further promote Taekwondo’s educational values and philosophy of fair play among athletes from these different African countries and sustain the taekwondo spirit of humility, discipline, perseverance, and defense of others and self among you.  

 

In closing, I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the dignitaries for making it possible to hold the Second Korean Ambassador’s International Taekwondo Championship 2010.

 

    Thank you.