One sport: a thousand dreams - Junior World Taekwondo Ch'ships

Castro Verdugo addressing the press conference held to announce plans for the Junior World Taekwondo Championships






By Raul Garcia Salguero Member, AIPS Executive Committee

TIJUANA, December 31, 2009 - The 8th edition of the 2010 Junior World Taekwondo Championship will also be a qualifying event for the First Youth Olympic Games which will take part in Singapore, the local organizing committee announced during a press conference held at the Baja California’s High Performance Center.



This facility, located a few miles south of the United States-Mexico Border was chosen as the official site of the tournament scheduled from March 3rd - 9th. The first two days will be part of the Youth Olympic qualifying rounds and after that the World Championship bouts will start with the participation of more than 1,600 athletes from almost 120 countries.



Baja California’s Sports and Physical Culture Institute (INDE, initials in Spanish for Instituto del Deporte y la Cultura Fisica) Director, Saul Castro Verdugo, stated that all the requirements for the organization have been set and approved after a series of inspections by the World Taekwondo Federations. Transportation, gathering, hospitality, hotels and all the logistics have been passed and certified by both, the National and World Federations.



This sport, said Castro Verdugo, is very special for Mexico, because of the number of Olympic and World Championship caliber medals won by the country in many stages. INDE’s Director remembered that in last October during the WTF Conference in Denmark, the organizing committee presented every aspect concerning to the preparation prior to the Championship which will take place for the first time in the American continent. Thus a promotion campaign was created under the legend of “One Sport, A thousand Dreams” with a special introduction by Baja California State Governor, Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millán describing the amenities, infrastructure and equipment issues ready for the competition.



The campaign was presented a few weeks ago in Cairo, Egypt, during the World Poomsae (Forms) Championship with the presence of members of INDE’s commission as organizing committee and the Mexican Taekwondo Federation. Castro Verdugo said that starting the last week of January 2010, many national delegations will arrive to Tijuana as part of a strategy to close the final phase of their preparation prior to the championship.



“In our city we have hosted a lot of events and international competitions like the Youth and Junior world volleyball championships as well as the Volleyball Pan Am Cups in both genders, and the FINA Diving World Series”. The Institute’s General Director also remarked that alongside the 2010 World Taekwondo Championships there are more programmed events like the Volleyball Championships in 2011 and the 75th Congress of the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS) in 2012, just a few months before the Olympic Games of London.