COAS Pakistan Open Int’l Taekwondo C’ship from Nov 6

NDU's National Security Workshop delegation visits Khyber District

ISLAMABAD, Nov 01 (APP): The Inaugural Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Pakistan Open International Taekwondo Championship (G-1), will be staged here at the Liaquat Gymnasium of the Pakistan Sports Complex on November 6.

“As many as 419 international and national athletes would feature in the Championship,” Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) Col (R) Wasim Ahmed said in a press conference here at a local hotel on Monday.

Revealing the details of the international event, he said a total of 375 national male and female players would be competing in different disciplines of the championship.

“Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr Fhemida Mirza will be chief guest on the opening ceremony on November 6. Around 125 international players and technical officials will be in Islamabad for this mega event,” he said.

Besides hosts Pakistan, Afghanistan, Albania, Nepal, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Oman, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, United Arab Emirates (UAE), El-Salvador, Croatia, and WT Refuge Team would compete for 16 gold medals in the championship, he said. “We have international standard equipment to meet the international challenges and PTF is capable to stage such a great event.

Our aim is to promote the game and highlight the positive image of the Pakistan across the world through sports. We have lot of support of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to organize this event.

I thank all our sponsors as well for making this event possible”, he said. To a question, he said, PTF had also invited India for this event but they did not respond to the invitation.

“India has good taekwondo players especially girls and we along with other countries invited them as well. Many countries are not coming for this event owing the airfares that have going high due to COVID-19 pandemic”, he said. “But we have enough entries and a large number of players and officials will be in the Islamabad for the mega taekwondo event,” he said.

Wasim said young boys and girls aged 18 and above would be participating in the seniors’ fixtures. “International referees from Pakistan will be joined by other International referees for the smooth conduct of this prestigious championship. He also acknowledged and appreciated the whole hearted support provided by the South Asian President Omar Saeed.

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