WTF President Chungwon Choue has offered to set up a WTF-designated regional taekwondo training center in Russia and Vitaly L. Mutko, minister of sport of the Russian Federation, has responded in a very affirmative way.
The idea of establishing a regional training center in Russia was raised in a meeting between WTF President Choue and Russian Sport Minister Mutko at the Petersburg Sport and Concert Complex in St. Petersburg, Russia on Oct. 19, 2013.
At the 30-minute meeting between the two, the third of its kind after their earlier meetings in Moscow and Kazan, WTF President Choue proposed launching a WTF-designated regional training center in Russia for the development of taekwondo and the Russian sport minister responded to the offer in a very affirmative manner.
The two sides agreed to follow up the training center issue shortly. On hand at the meeting was Mr. Anatoly Terekhov, president of the Russian Taekwondo Union, and WTF Secretary General Jean-Marie Ayer.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 2013 SportAccord World Combat Games, which kicked off on Oct. 18 for a nine-day run in St. Petersburg, drawing athletes from a total of 15 martial arts and combat sports, including taekwondo.
The WTF has so far designated five regional training centers in four countries: China, Iran, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.