A World Taekwondo Cares project in Sri Lanka has successfully introduced the sport to street children in Colombo and Kegalle ©World Taekwondo

A "Road to Champions" World Taekwondo Cares project has successfully completed it's first mission to introduce basic taekwondo skills to street children in Sri Lanka.

The project was launched in July and has involved 60 boys from Sri Lanka's capital city Colombo and 23 girls from Kegalle.

The one-year scheme is aimed at empowering homeless children by providing them with taekwondo lessons.

In its latest progress report to World Taekwondo, the Sri Lanka Taekwondo Federation said: "The project work is moving forward as planned and is on track. 

"Overall the project has completed its first task of introducing basic taekwondo techniques and basic physical training and we are looking forward to completing other steps on due dates.

“The ultimate objective of the project is to help empower the street children for change of their lives through taekwondo and to help upgrade the children socially, mentally and physically.”

A group of 60 boys from Colombo have been introduced to taekwondo through the
A group of 60 boys from Colombo have been introduced to taekwondo through the "Road to Champions" project ©World Taekwondo

Sri Lanka has an estimated 15,000 street children – those children who lived on the street and were adopted by children's care centres.

The project has been financially supported by the Asia Development Foundation (ADF) and is led by the Sri Lanka Taekwondo Federation.

It is part of a World Taekwondo Memorandum of Understanding, signed in January with the ADF, which will provide $90,000 (£74,000/€81,000) to support WT Cares projects across Asia, including Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

A Nepalese WT Cares project was launched in Kathmandu at the start of this month for 250 reformatory inmates and female victims of domestic violence.