Most significantly, Asia and Africa will host a Para-taekwondo Championships for the first time in 2015 as the sport's development continues its rapid growth following a hugely successful 2014.

Taiwan will host the inaugural Asian Para-Taekwondo Championships, with competition due to get underway in April, while Algeria will be home to the inaugural African Para-Taekwondo Championships, with a date yet to be announced.

The fourth edition of the Pan-American Para-Taekwondo Championships will be held in Colombia in September and follows successful Championships in Aguascalientes and Monterrey, Mexico, and Sucre, Bolivia.

Moldova will host the European Para-Taekwondo Championships with dates yet to be revealed for this contest.

All championships will be open to athletes from all corners of the globe as part of the WTF's commitment to making the sport as open and accessible as possible and to ensure athletes from Oceania are given an equal opportunity to compete.

Colombia will play host to the fourth edition of the Pan-American Para-Taekwondo Championships following successful competitions in Mexico and Bolivia from 2010 ©WTF



"The Para-taekwondo competition schedule for 2015 shows just how far the sport has come over the last few years," said WTF President Chungwon Choue.

"Over the last year, we have seen the number of registered athletes grow dramatically, even faster than we predicted, and so we needed to establish new competitions to meet these growing demands.

"Asia and Africa will host their first ever Para-Taekwondo Championships this year and not only will this service the existing athletes but it will help unlock the huge potential for growth we have in those regions - and around the world - by inspiring athletes with impairments to get involved in the sport.

"If we have the honour of being included on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Programme we have no doubt that it will act as a catalyst for rapid expansion and development of Para-taekwondo.

"We have the infrastructure in place: we have well-developed Classification Rules and Regulations based on evidence-based research, we have introduced a World Rankings system, we have a strong quadrennial programme in place and we have 40-years of experience at the WTF of maximising our sports product."

The 2015 Para-taekwondo season will also see a kyorugi world rankings implemented for the first, starting at the Canada Para-Taekwondo Open in February, which will guarantee the highest level of competition at all major Championships, including potentially Tokyo 2020.

A decision over whether the sport will be introduced to the programme is expected to be made by the International Paralympic Committee at its meeting in Berlin from January 30 to February 1.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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