Kukkiwon at Present

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MARTIAL ARTS-KUKKIWON INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
Contact No: +91.9874091619 E-Mail: prof.nag@gmail.com E_Mail: wmac@india.com

 

Upon liberation of Korea from the Japanese colonial rule after World War II, the Korean people began recovering the thought of self-reliance and the traditional folkloric games resumed their popularity. Song Duk-Ki, afore-mentioned master of Taekkyon, presented a demonstration of the martial art before the first republic of Korea president Syngman Rhee on the occasion of his birthday, clearly distinguishing Taekwondo from the Japanese Karate which had been introduced by the Japanese rulers.

Martial art experts began opening Taekwondo gymnasiums all over the country and after the end of Korean War (1950-1953) Taekwondo was popularized among the dan-grade black-belters within the country, also dispatching about 2,000 Taekwondo masters to more than 100 countries.

After all, following the nomination of Taekwondo as a national martial art in 1971, the present Kukkiwon was founded in 1972 to be used as the headquarters as well as the site of various Taekwondo competitions.

Then a year later, in 1973 the World Taekwondo Federation was established. In 1973, the biennial World Taekwondo Championships was organized.

In 1984, Taekwondo was admitted to the Asian Games as an official event. In 1975, Taekwondo was accepted as an official sport by the U.S Amateur Athletic Union [AAU] and also admitted to the General Association of International Sports Federations [GAISF – later renamed SportAccord], followed by the adoption of official sports event by the International Council of Military Sports [CISM] in 1976 and by International University Sports Federation [FISU] in 1986 . The WTF became an IOC-recognized sports federation in 1980, making Taekwondo an Olympic sport. Then the adoption of Taekwondo as an official event was followed by the World Games in 1981, All Africa Games in 1983, and the Pan-American Games in 1986.

Taekwondo participated in 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games as a demonstration sport. On September 4, 1994, the 103rd IOC Session in Paris voted to include Taekwondo in 2000 Sydney Olympic Games as an official sport. (As a result, in 2006, September 4 was designated as Taekwondo Day by the WTF.)

Taekwondo made its debut as an official sport in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Since then, Taekwondo's entry in the Olympics has increased from 103 athletes to 128 athletes. And from the Beijing Olympics the number of bronze medals increased from one to two. Taekwondo is confirmed through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Taekwondo is also included in the Youth Olympic Games, beginning with the inaugural edition in Singapore in 2010.

The WTF introduced the 1st WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships in 2009, and has since then promoted inclusion of para-taekwondo in the Paralympic Games. Taekwondo first participated in the Deaflympics in 2009.

Taekwondo is an official sport of almost all international multi-sport games as well as continental games. With an ever-growing number of taekwondo practitioners worldwide, the WTF now has 206 Member National Associations located at all corners of the globe. And the WTF has also made ceaseless effort to make taekwondo a sport for all, irrespective gender, race, age, religion, culture and with or without physical or mental disabilities in cooperation with various international sports organizations.