Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) will conduct the mega event of the international Taekwondo championship in the country from November 06, 24News HD TV Channel reported on Monday.
Teams from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Albania, Nepal, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Oman, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, United Arab Emirates (UAE), El-Salvador, Croatia, and WT Refuge would participate in it.
The PTF President Lt Col (R) Waseem Ahmed Janjua held a press conference and announced that as many as 419 international and national athletes would participate in the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Pakistan Open International Taekwondo Championship (G-1).
He said the championship would be held at Liaquat Gymnasium and Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza would be the chief guest at the opening ceremony.
The PTF President said 375 male and female national players would compete in the different categories of the championship. And, around 125 international players and technical officials would join the event, he added.
He said the athletes would compete for gold and glory across 16 male and female different medal categories.
He said that they had international standard equipment to meet the international challenges and PTF was capable to stage such a great event.
He said they wanted the promotion of the game and highlighted the positive image of Pakistan across the world through sports.
He said PTF had a lot of support from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to organize this event.
Responding to a question, he divulged that PTF had also invited India for this event but they did not respond.
“India has good taekwondo players especially girls. Anyhow, we had sent invitations to all countries. Many countries are not coming for this event owing to the airfares that have gone high due to covid-19”, he said.
He said that the young boys and girls mostly aged 18 and above would be going to participate in seniors’ fixtures. International referees from Pakistan and abroad would conduct the championship, he said.
He also acknowledged and appreciated the support of South Asian President Omar Saeed. He also thanked sponsors’ Combaxx Sports, Fruit Nation, Go Petroleum, Bank Islami, The Bank of Punjab, Nayyab Labs, Korean Embassy, Islamabad Serena Hotel and Shangrilla Resorts.
Reporter: Mohsin Ali