The 2019 Manchester World Taekwondo Championships will be held in the British city from May 15 to 19 with distinguished guests, a futuristic camera deployment and a team of special athletes who will join the sports show.

975 competitors from 150 countries and a refugee team under the World Taekwondo (WT) flag will delight the public for 5 days

975 athletes from 150 countries and a team of refugees under the World Taekwondo (WT) flag will compete in 16 weight categories (eight men, eight women). And since 2019 is a pre-Olympic year, the battles in Manchester will offer taekwondo fans a preview of what’s to come in Tokyo 2020.

For the first time in the history of the World Taekwondo Championships, a 4D camera platform, which has already been used in the two editions of the Grand Slam of Wuxi, China, will be installed around the main combat area to capture all the matches from of the semifinals. This system provides images that allow you to explore the 360 ​​degrees of each action, making it possible for viewers to enjoy all the angles of each action performed by the competitors and providing visual effects of the “Matrix” style. The 4D camera will also be used in Tokyo in 2020.

More activities

On May 12, a conference will be held throughout the day that will focus on sport focused on social development, safe sport and integrity and compliance. All this with prominent speakers, among which the president of WT, Chungwon Choue, and Claude Marshal, sports coordinator of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The next day, May 13, a WT Council meeting will be held, followed by the entity’s General Assembly on May 14.

The election of the World Taekwondo Athletes Committee will also be held. Eleven candidates will compete for the four seats. The election results will be announced at the closing ceremony. The WT is committed to ensuring that athletes play a direct role in the governance of sport and the Athletes Committee is essential to ensure that the voice of athletes is heard at the highest level.

“The World Championship is, in terms of the number of athletes and countries represented, the biggest event in taekwondo”, said WT President Chungwon Choue. “We hope to bring this first division competition to Manchester, a city that not only has a great sporting heritage, but also a great heritage in taekwondo.”