Taekwondo athletes in the country have started preparing for the World Championships.
Paris 2024 Olympics - Taekwondo - Men -58kg Semifinal - Grand Palais, Paris, France - August 07, 2024. Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan in action against Vito Dell Aquila of Italy. REUTERS/Tingshu WangTaekwondo athletes in the country have started preparing for the World Championships to be held in Scotland next year. A world-class seminar was held in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. Word Champion and Master, Scott McMillan shared his skills and techniques with the local Taekwondo enthusiasts.
Scott McMillan helped local athletes sharpen their skills ahead of the World Championships next year. Most of the athletes are from rural areas such as Bushbuckridge, Hazyview, and Mbombela. Some say the sport keeps them fit and others say it is a useful self-defense mechanism.“I stay in the village. The men take advantage of the women. They’re raping the women and bullying the women. So, I joined Taekwondo for my self-defense and to protect other women,” says one of the participants.
“I joined about two years ago, and I would like to see myself actually as a teacher. Hopefully with the benefits of having someone one of my students bring a medal,” says another. “I actually started with my children. I have three kids, they all were coming to train for taekwondo, and I noticed their behaviours, they were more respectful, more focused, and even their schoolwork started to improve. For me, I joined because I realized that I was starting to become unhealthy and I needed something to keep me active,” says another participant.“It’s kicking and punching. It’s a derivative of the martial art. So, you don’t have a ball. We don’t play with a ball.
However, like many other sporting codes in rural communities, lack of funds remains a major problem. Taekwondo International Africa’s Job Magagula called on government to fund the sport. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
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