Up to 43 young athletes will represent Nigeria at the ISSF World Schools Taekwondo poomsae virtual Championships when the event gets underway between August 13 and 15, 2020.
The Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) had teamed up with the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) and State Sports Council to ensure Nigeria beats the registration deadline, which ended on July 30, 2020.
The International School Federation (ISF) which is being hosted by the Nepal School Sports Federation, is the first ever virtual taekwondo event being organized by the global federation.
A total of 43 youth athletes were registered, including 31 boys and 12 girls from 31 secondary schools across 10 states, including Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, FCT, Imo, Jigawa, Lagos, Osun and Rivers state.
This was disclosed by the Technical Director of NTF, Engr. China Chukwumerije on Friday.
Chukwumerije further revealed that seven girls will participate in the female 12 – 14 years old category while five girls will participate in the female 15 – 17 years old category. For the males, 17 boys were registered for the 12 – 14 years old category whole 14 boys will represent Nigeria in the male 15 – 17 year old category.
He said 33 of the students are coloured belt holders, while 10 of the students are poom black belt holders.
According to him, “The participants, who have a deadline of August 8 2020 to submit their competition videos, will have some competitive practice after more than half of them are billed to also compete in the 1st Online Poomsae Championships which is being organised between August 7 and 8, 2020 by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation for its taekwondo community.”
Talking about how poomsae event is done, the NTF technical Czar who remained the only Nigerian to have won Olympic medal in Taekwondo explained, “Poomsae or Patterns are a set sequence of movements that consists of the various fundamental stances, blocks, punches and kicks logically arranged in a meaningful order in response to attacks from multiple imaginary assailants.
“The poomsae (or forms, for a simpler term) are supposed to be a practice of the techniques that you learn with each belt rank. The forms are meant to be done with the mindset that there is an opponent across from you and you are either striking or blocking.
“Poomsae have various events for individual, pairs and group, and is one of the events held at the National Sports Festival.
“The main event for Poomsae internationally is the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, which is held every two years.”
With the outbreak of the coronavirus, online poomsae events have helped the global taekwondo community to keep its practitioners active and competitive.
