India Taekwondo announces first ever online tournament

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Aug 26 : India Taekwondo is gearing up in a big way to bring glory back into the sport by announcing its first-ever online National Taekwondo Poomsae Championship 2020.
The tournament will be virtually held in a first of its kind manner taking all the practicalities and logistics online. The virtual tournament will be held from September 28 to October 4 and is met with a lot of support from the World Taekwondo fraternity as well as the Indian Taekwondo fraternity.
Poomsae (a.k.a. Forms, Patterns, Hyung, Kata) is considered to be the traditional aspect of the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, and is defined as a patterned series of offensive and defensive techniques performed against an imaginary opponent.
"I am heartened to see that India Taekwondo has taken the first initiative to kick start a new era for Taekwondo in India as it is an important country for the global development of our beloved sport. It is time for the Taekwondo community to unite and support the leadership of India Taekwondo," said Dr Choue, president, World Taekwondo.
"It is also meaningful that the first commissions are that for Athletes and Referees, as they are the most important stakeholders of the sport. We look forward to working closely with Shirgaonkar, President of India Taekwondo, and India Taekwondo as a whole," the president added.
The competition is held based on individual capabilities and divided into colour belt division and black belt division. The colour belt division consists of three categories and the black belt division which are medal events that are segregated into eight categories respectively.
Each category has guidelines that will have participants perform compulsory Poomsae and winners will be decided by highly trained referees appointed by the referee commission.
"The tournament will prove to be a boost for athletes that have been waiting for the longest time to complete. There has been an absolute standstill in the world of sport and I'm proud that India Taekwondo is executing a tournament of this scale and encouraging athletes to compete at the national level," said Namdev Shirgaonkar, President, India Taekwondo on the importance of hosting this tournament.

"Poomsae has always been eyed as one of the medal hopefuls at any all-sporting event and we are confident that this will offer them a launchpad for the upcoming Asian Games. I wish all the participants the best of luck and look forward to exceptional performances," Shirgaonkar added.
Athletes will be virtually performing within complete safety guidelines as directed by their respective states. They will in no way come in contact with any of the other participants or organisers. Each athlete will have to submit a video performing their Poomsae which they have to record and submit before the given deadline whilst adhering to the rules and regulations of the tournament.
Owing to these unprecedented times and the nature of the first of its kind virtual tournament, India Taekwondo will conduct a webinar for the participants and their coaches to explain the rules and regulations. This will give everyone further clarity on the special guidelines that are exclusive to this online tournament.
The National Poomsae Championship 2020, under the aegis of IOA will help Indian Taekwondo athletes increase their skills to ensure notable performance at the Olympics.