The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has signed a global partnership agreement with leading Korean construction company Booyoung Group as part of the federation’s ongoing commitment to attracting investment to the sport and ensuring it continues to develop and evolve worldwide.
Under the agreement, signed on April 8, 2015, the Booyoung Group will provide the WTF with a record investment of USD 10 million over the next six years in the run-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Chairman of Booyoung Group Lee, Joong Keun, Ph.D. has been a close friend and highly valued supporter of taekwondo for many years.
He has been involved in various taekwondo development programmes aimed at promoting the Olympic values and has actively donated to the creation of taekwondo training centers throughout Southeast Asia.
“We are delighted to have entered into this historic partnership with the Booyoung Group,” WTF President Chungwon Choue said after signing the agreement. “The WTF has had a very successful few years having consolidated taekwondo’s position on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Sports Program and having been included in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. However, there is no room for complacency. We want to continue to evolve and innovate to make our sport better for our athletes and for our fans.”
Tokyo 2020 will be the sixth consecutive Olympic Games that taekwondo has been a part of and the WTF has pledged to use the investment to find innovative ways to make the competition more exciting and consolidate its position on the Olympic program.
The WTF will also use the investment to expand its para-taekwondo structure among its 206 member associations worldwide. Para-taekwondo has witnessed a steady increase in global participation since it was announced as one of the 22 core sports on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Sports Program by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in January 2015.
Under Choue’s leadership, the WTF has worked tirelessly over the last decade to become a truly universal and accessible sport and gaining entry into the Paralympic Games had been identified as a key objective toward achieving this goal.
And with taekwondo’s practitioner base and media profile continuing to rise, Choue vowed to seek further commerical partnerships.
“Investment through partnerships, sponsorships and broadcasting deals is vital to our future developmen.” he said. “We are confident in the coming months and years that more companies will look to join the Booyoung Group in becoming WTF global partners.”
