Badminton, Taekwondo Team Up on Humanitarian Mission -- Federation Focus

(ATR) The Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF), World Taekwondo (WT) and Badminton World Federation (BWF) join forces to promote humanitarian, peace and development-supporting activities.

THF Chairman and WT President Chungwon Choue, BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer and THF Executive Director Roger Piarulli signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday at the Maison du Sport International in Lausanne.

"Taekwondo, and sport in general, is such an important vehicle for world peace and we are all very excited to work closely with the BWF to improve the lives of those who need it most," Choue said after the signing ceremony.

THF and WT have been keen on teaming up with other sports federations at their existing Azraq Taekwondo Academy in the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. The idea to bring in additional sports and fun activities for the camp’s population is now reality with the addition of BWF.

The recent installation of artificial turf outside of the Academy gives badminton a football-sized field playground to develop fun activities for the many children and youth visiting the Academy daily.

"Badminton is a sport for all and as such we see great opportunity in uniting together with our friends at World Taekwondo to provide avenues of sport and physical activity for the children and youth at the Azraq Refugee Camp," Høyer said.

"We hope this partnership will extend to many other peace and development initiatives globally in the coming years."

Choue says his long-term vision is to join with other International Federations and the IOC in launching the Olympic Peace Corps, where a great variety of sports could bring hope to people in vulnerable situations around the world.

Softball and Baseball5 Boost Social Change in Gambia

Run the Bases, with the support of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, says it is using softball and Baseball5 to address inequalities and help bring social change to Gambia.

A recently completed field program, lasting more than two weeks, taught the basics of the sport to the children and local coaches while stressing values like communication, leadership, cooperation and decision making.

The program ended with final competitions to show off the skills learned by the children. The softball tournament drew in more than 200 people, with eight teams competing from four different communities.

The second event was a Baseball5 match between two mixed teams of local coaches who faced off in the Berending village square.

WBSC supported the initiative by donating four starter kits (one for each community) and Baseball5 balls.

Run the Bases is an organization that addresses gender inequalities by teaching life skills, using softball as a vehicle for social change. The WBSC says the Gambia project had a strong female representation of players throughout the camp, compared to the relatively small presence they may have in other aspects of society.

Written by Gerard Farek

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