Badminton joins taekwondo in humanitarian mission

Lausanne, Switzerland – On January 14, 2019, the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF), World Taekwondo (WT) and Badminton World Federation (BWF) signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote humanitarian, peace and development-supporting activities.

THF Chairman, and WT President Dr. Chungwon Choue, BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer and THF Executive Director Roger Piarulli met in the afternoon of January 14 at the Maison du Sport International in Lausanne to sign this collaboration agreement.

Following the signing, Dr. Choue said: "At World Taekwondo our motto is ‘peace is more precious than triumph’, and this landmark agreement further highlights our commitment to humanitarian, peace and development-supporting activities around the world. 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."

President Høyer said: "The BWF is excited to partner with the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation as well as World Taekwondo to promote and support humanitarian and social development initiatives around the world, in particular the sports for peace project in Jordan. 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. We hope this partnership will extend to many other peace and development initiatives globally in the coming years."

Since Dr. Choue addressed all international sports federations attending ASOIF General Assembly that took place in Bangkok in May last year with an open invitation to join hands with World Taekwondo and THF in their humanitarian activities, several institutional partnerships were concluded with the intent to develop close cooperation in promoting sports as a vehicle towards peace, social development and integration of vulnerable populations.

THF and WT have been keen on uniting forces with others in their existing Azraq Taekwondo Academy in place in Azraq Refugee Camp, Jordan, with sports federation that could bring in additional sports and fun activities for the camp’s population. With the recent installation of artificial turf outside of the Academy, badminton has a football-sized field playground at disposal to develop fun activities for the many children and youth visiting the Academy daily.

Looking at pictures from the Academy set-up and the camp itself, BWF President Poul-Erik Hoyer confirmed that it made perfect sense to join hands with other Sports Federations sharing the same vision and willing to get involved in the field, as team efforts were a sure way to maximise the impact of such initiatives. Dr. Choue added that his long-term vision is to launch with other International Federations and the IOC the Olympic Peace Corps where a great variety of sports could bring hope to people in vulnerable situations around the world.

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