Taekwondo has been classified as a category 2, optional sport at the Commonwealth Games. The Olympic sport of taekwondo, thus, stands a good chance of being on the official program of the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the earliest.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) recently sent a letter to the World Taekwondo Federation to inform the world’s taekwondo governing body of its decision to classify taekwondo as a category 2 sport.
The CGF has three classifications of sports: core sports (Category 1), optional sports (Category 2), and recognized sports (Category 3). Under the current CGF regulations, the Commonwealth Games must include a minimum of 10 core sports on their program and they can then include up to an additional seven from a list of optional sports, with a maximum of 4 team sports on their program.
The CGF decision came just five days after a four-member WTF delegation made a sport presentation for the CGF officials in London on June 7. Among the WTF delegates were Mr. Philippe Buedo, chairman of the WTF Games Committee; Mr. Anthony Ferguson, president of the Caribbean Taekwondo Federation; and Dr. William Darlington, secretary general of the Commonwealth Taekwondo Union.
“On behalf of the CGF, I write to thank you for the detailed submissions provided and the subsequent representations by your colleagues in London last week pertaining to the above,” said Mr. Michael Hooper, chief executive officer of the CGF, in a letter dated on June 14, 2010 and sent to the World Taekwondo Federation.
The CGF CEO continued to say in his letter, “In approving the classification of taekwondo as a category 2 sport, both the Federation’s Sport Committee and the Executive Board were pleased to note the ongoing commitment being made by the sport through its development programs across the Commonwealth, as well as the innovative changes being made through the sport presentation aspects of the competition.”
“By becoming a category 2 sport, taekwondo is now eligible for inclusion by prospective candidate cities within their selection of up to 7 additional sports from the broader list of category 2 sports, i.e. additional to the 10 core sports and you should now look to work with candidate cities for future editions of the Games as they develop their bid proposals,” the CGF CEO said.
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