To begin with, permit me to say a very big “thank you” for your support and contribution as we continue taekwondo’s progress on the road to making it one of the most popular sports in the world.

In 2015 we held our 1st Asian Para Taekwondo Championships, along with the 8th Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships, the 3rd Asian Junior Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, the 1st Asian Cadet Taekwondo Championships, and the 1st Asian Cadet Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, which were held successfully in Chinese Taipei in April.

These events succeeded in raising the standard of taekwondo across the region.

In 2016, the ATU is working to get poomsae adopted as a new event for the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

If we succeed, it will ease the path of this event into the Summer Olympics at some point in the future.

So please join me as we build consensus and press for this important step.

We are on the road to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, and what promises to be the best-ever taekwondo event in the world’s ultimate sporting forum. I sincerely hope that the 15 MNAs representing the Asian continent will achieve optimum results through hard training, skilled combat and fair play.

As a parting word, let me say: “Genuine success comes only to those who are ready for it. So, never step back and always have courage to accept new challenges.”Sincerely yours,

Kyu-seok Lee
President, Asian Taekwondo Union