Ghana’s future taekwondo stars to take centre stage at 14th Korean Ambassador’s Championships

The Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF) is focusing on cultivating future champions, with the upcoming 14th Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Championships featuring a shift towards junior and cadet athletes.

Set to be held on 27 July 2024, at the Bukom Boxing Arena inside the Trust Sports Emporium, the competition will exclusively showcase competitors aged 13–17 years old.

This strategic decision, revealed in an exclusive interview with asaaseradio.com by GTF Communications Director Davis Clottey, prioritises talent development at the grassroots level.

“We realised that there is a lot of young talent,” Clottey remarked. “Last year we had seniors and then juniors only; this year we’ll be doing from 13 years to 17 years, meaning we are cutting off the seniors’ category and then we’ll be concentrating on the juniors because the juniors start from 15 to 17 [years]. We’ll do 13 years to 17 years, so we’ll have a little bit of cadets in this year’s championship.”

Clottey highlighted successful cases like 17-year-old Prince Marvin Klutse, a former junior athlete who has transitioned to the senior ranks, representing Ghana at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana.

This exemplifies the GTF’s vision for identifying and empowering promising young talents.

“Prince Marvin Klutse, who was one of our very good junior athletes, is now a senior athlete,” Clottey said. “We want to look at those potentials in the juniors’ category and monitor them.”

The focus on juniors extends beyond the national competition. Clottey emphasised the GTF’s commitment to participating in more international junior championships.

“We’ve realised that we mostly focus on the tournaments that are looking for Olympic qualification,” he explained. “But there are junior championships as well, so we will be looking at some of those championships. Put a team together, get them a coach and then we can register some of them and go and participate in those championships and it is all about preparing them for the competition.”

Jointly organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and the GTF, the 14th Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Championships is expected to see fierce competition in the junior and cadet Kyorugi (sparring) categories, alongside under-17 Poomsae (forms) disciplines.

Asaase Broadcasting Company airs on Asaase 99.5 Accra, Asaase 98.5 Kumasi, Asaase 99.7 Tamale, Asaase 100.3 Cape Coast, AsaasePa 107.3 (Accra).
Affiliates: Azay FM 89.1 (Takoradi), Bawku FM 101.5, Bead FM 99.9 (Bimbilla), Mining City Radio 89.5 (Tarkwa), Nyatefe Radio 94.5 (Dzodze), Somuaa FM 89.9 (Gushegu), Stone City 90.7 (Ho) and Wale FM 106.9 (Walewale).
Listen online: asaaseradio.com, Sound Garden and TuneIn.
Follow us:
X: @asaaseradio995, @Asaase985ksi, @Asaase997tamale, @asaase1003, asaasepa1073
Instagram: asaaseradio99.5, asaase985ksi, asaase100.3, asaase99.7tamale, asaasepa107.3
LinkedIn: company/asaaseradio995. TikTok: @asaaseradio99.5
Facebook: asaase99.5, asaase985ksi, Asaase100.3, asaase99.7, AsaasePa107.3.
YouTube: AsaaseXtra.
Join the conversation. Accra: call 020 000 9951/054 888 8995, WhatsApp 020 000 0995. Kumasi: call 059 415 7985 or call/WhatsApp 020 631 5260. Tamale: call/WhatsApp/SMS 053 554 6468. Cape Coast: call/WhatsApp 059 388 2652.
#AsaaseRadio
#AsaasePa
#TheVoiceofOurLand