AFZAL JAVED
ISLAMABAD, Nov 01: Over One Hundred foreigner taekwondo players and officials from thirteen different countries will be in action along with 375 Pakistani athletes and officials in the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Pakistan Open International Taekwondo Championship (G-1) starting from November 6 at Liaquat Gymnasium Islamabad.
This was revealed by Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) President Col (Retd) Wasim Ahmed along with women wing president Saba Shamim during the press conference here at local hotel on Monday.
He said that all the arrangements have been finalized of three days championship and teams including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Albania, Nepal, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Oman, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, United Arab Emirates (UAE), El-Salvador, Croatia, and WT Refuge will fight for 16 gold medals in different categories.
“We invited Indian team for this prestigious event but they did not respondent even India having good taekwondo players but no positive response received from Indian side”, He said, adding that we have enough entries and a large number of players and officials will be in the Islamabad for this mega championship.
PTF President 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 will be joined by a various other International referees for the smooth conduct of this prestigious championship.
Col (Retd) Wasim Ahmed thanked the support given by the Chief of Army Staff and his office, not only in encouraging the proposal in initial stage but also by providing assistance so that better ties can be developed with other countries through the sports diplomacy.
President PTF also acknowledged and appreciated support provided by the South Asian Taekwondo Federation President Omar Saeed as well as sponsors Combaxx Sports, Fruit Nation, Go Petroleum, Bank Islami, The Bank of Punjab, Nayyab Labs, Korean Embassy, Islamabad Serena Hotel and Shangrilla Resorts for facilitating the taekwondo event.
