Believe it or not competitive Taekwondo is a very active discipline throughout the year. And 2017 is not an exception, this past June the city of Muju in none other than Taekwondo country itself South Korea, saw the 2017 World Taekwondo Championship in its 23rd edition.
And that’s just a tiny bit of what’s coming in the next months, for example, in Moscow, Russia, the 2017 World Taekwondo Grand Prix will take place being this one of the most important competitions in the year, just a couple of days after this competition ends, Russia will hold a domestic competition, the Russia Open 2017.
Like we mentioned before, there are a lot of competitions going on in the world of Taekwondo, and one of the most interesting to mention is the one known as Summer Universiade that will be held in Taipei, China in the end of August, this is the 30th edition of this competition where college students that practice Taekwondo in their universities come to compete. We find it interesting because many people are not aware that many universities have Taekwondo as one of the sports that students can elect as an extra-curricular activity.
But there are also competitions for those with disabilities but that also practice Taekwondo like the 23rd Summer Deaflympics that will be held in Turkey and, as it names states, it’s a competition directed to those who are hearing impaired and yet practice this beautiful martial art.
Or the 2017 Panamerican Para-Taekwondo Open International Championships that will help in Argentina, which is directed to martial artists that have disabilities like missing limbs but that even so, practice martial arts and do it really well. We have to take into consideration that this is a qualifying competition for the Paralympic Games to be held in Tokyo, Japan after the Olympic Games in 2020.
What about Tokyo 2020?
And here we get to the point of the Olympic Games that will be held in Tokyo in a couple of years, well, like any Olympic sport, Taekwondo has its own Olympic Cycle, which means there will be national, regional and continental competitions throughout the next two years to get those who will qualify for the Olympic Games.
In 2017 there will be little competitions of this kind as they normally happen in the last half of 2018 and mostly on 2019, the year preceding the Olympic Games.
What is an “OPEN” Tournament?
We have mentioned a couple of competitions that will take place the next month and there will be others like the Costa Rica Open International Championship or the Canada Open International Championship, well, unlike tournaments like the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships, the word “Open” means that these championships are open to any Taekwondo practitioner and the only requirement is to be part of a Taekwondo Federation. The idea is to gather martial artists from as many countries as possible to give them the chance to see how they level in kyorugi and Poomsae competitions.
The regional championships (like the European Senior Championships) are only for those who pertain to the specific geographic area and this happens when they are part of the Olympic Cycle or simply because the organizers wish for only a select geographical area to get participants from.
All in all, no matter what your level and location, there’s plenty of competitions where you can put your knowledge, experience, and capabilities to the test.