Taekwondo Plants Feet on Holy Ground

Taekwondo took a historic step today, with theWTF Demonstration Team demonstrating and the WTF president at one of the mosticonic locations on earth: The Vatican in Rome.

Under the theme "Sport at the Service of Humanity" the 1st Global Conference onFaith & Sport kicked off on October 5 for a three-day event. It is a gathering of globalleaders and influencers from the world of faith, sport, business and other relevantorganizations –to discuss, in partnership, the interconnectedness of Faith and Sport

and to explore the scope and limits of the combination.

The event was attended by three of the heaviest hitters on the global scene: UNSecretary General Ban Ki-moon, IOC President Thomas Bach, and of course thehost of the event - Pope Francis himself.

At the opening ceremony of the event, the WTF Demonstration Team performedtheir trademark high-flying routine at the Paul VI Audience Hall of the Vatican, whichwas viewed by the Pope, Ban and Bach.

Prior to the taekwondo demonstration, following to a question about the activities ofthe THF, Kang Hyeon Wook, a member of the WTF Demonstration Team’s answeraroused sympathy from the audiences in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

"The THF send taekwondo instructors to the places worldwide such as Jordan whererefugees are located and Nepal after the earthquake. Through taekwondo people donot get only physical benefits, but they also learn good manners, self-control andperseverance. All those values are the core of sport and life. However, the mostvaluable aspect of taekwondo is giving the smile to the people, especially on thechildren’s face," said Kang.

The conference will be held at the Synod Hall on October 6 and 7.

WTF President Chungwon Choue will once again suggest creating a ‘‘Sport PeaceCorps’’ to fellow sport leaders that they need to look beyond stadia and take sport tothose who need it most and joining hands with the Taekwondo HumanitarianFoundation at the Working Session of the conference on October 6.

The envisioned Sport Peace Corps would take a broad spectrum of Olympic sportsto developing nations and refugee camps. The concept behind the vision is a blendof the existing Taekwondo Peace Corps and the Taekwondo HumanitarianFoundation.

The Taekwondo Peace Corps was established in 2008 and has since dispatchedaround 1300 instructors to developing nations worldwide. The TaekwondoHumanitarian Foundation was founded in 2016 and runs programs in Syrian refugeecamps in Jordan and Turkey; it has also assisted displaced persons in Nepal.

On October 8, WTF President Choue and the Demonstration Team will visit Rome’sCrocerossa Refugee Camp.

The WTF Demonstration Team will carry out a further range of performances acrossItaly until October 11, including one at the earthquake zone of Amatrice.

For more information, please contact:

Communications Department

World Taekwondo Federation

Tel: +82 2 566 2505

Fax: +82 2 553 4728

Website: www.wtf.org

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