Jakarta to resume Kukkiwon outing

Jakarta to resume Kukkiwon outing

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The change in the presidency of Kukkiwon -- the world tae kwon
do headquarters -- is seen as a promising prospect for the
sport's development in Indonesia.

"We see this is a good development at the headquarters and we
expect much of the election of Woon Kyu-uhm as the Kukkiwon
president," Sutjipto Lohardjo, one of Indonesia's more prominent
tae kwon do figures, said here on Monday.

Woon replaced Kim Un-yong, who had held his post since 1972,
back in March and Sutjipto's optimism stemmed from his close
personal relationship with the new president.

In his letter to Sutjipto, who is also the chairman of the
Indonesian Tae Kwon Do Association's Jakarta chapter, 75-year-old
Woon pledged his commitment to a better future for tae kwon do.

"I'm going to do my best to harmonize and unite the global tae
kwon do family with Kukkiwon as the central figure," Woon said in
the letter, the copies of which were made available to media.

Sutjipto said he looked forward to inviting Woon to Indonesia
this year to be presented in front of thousands of local tae kwon
do athletes.

Kukkiwon has members in 176 countries with tae kwon do
athletes numbering 60 million.

Located in the District of Kangnam in Seoul, the Kukkiwon
conducts Dan promotion contests and is the only organization in
the world which issues official Black Belt certificates to tae
kwon do athletes around the world.

Competitors who want to participate in an international tae
kwon do competition sponsored or approved by the World Tae Kwon
Do Federation (WTF) need to hold a Kukkiwon Dan certificate.

The Kukkiwon provides tae kwon do coaches, athletes and
officials with modern facilities for training and competition.

And Sutjipto revealed his plan to resume sending athletes to
the headquarters every year for a month-long training camp. The
program was first initiated in 1988 before it was scrapped in
1996 in a signal of Sutjipto's protest against what he saw as
rife partiality in the refereeing in many local tournaments.

He said his athletes had very often been treated unfairly
during tournaments.

One of the notable athletes taking advantage of the Korean
outing was Juana Wangsa Putri, currently Indonesia's tae kwon do
medal hopeful in Athens along with Satriyo Rahardani.

As a junior athlete, Juana was among the trainees sent in
1995. She has since molded herself into a strong international
contender. One of the highlights of her career was winning a gold
medal at the World Championships in Paris last year, which
assured her a ticket to Athens.

"It's a rare opportunity for athletes to train at the
Kukkiwon. They will be trained by world-caliber counterparts like
seven-time world champion Jeong Kook-hyun," Sutjipto said.

"The requirements for them to go to Kukkiwon is that they must
be champions in local tournaments and that they are hard
workers," He added.

Tae kwon do is one of the only two martial arts sports at the
Olympics. The other is judo.