(ATR) Declaring the need to reinvent the sport of taekwondo, Chungwon Choue has won election to a new term as president of the World Taekwondo Federation.
Choue was the only candidate on the ballot after a challenger dropped out. This will be Choue's fourth four-year term.
Choue was elected in Muju, South Korea where the WTF Congress was held Friday, a day before the start of the 2017 WTF World Championships.
The final vote was not announced but Choue received a standing ovation as he told the Congress "Thank you for your confidence in me".
Like Choue, all five of the current presidents of the WTF’s Continental Unions were running unopposed. Gen. Ahmed El-Fouly of the African Taekwondo Union, Kyu-seok Lee of the Asia Taekwondo Union; Athanasios Pragalos of the European Taekwondo Union; John Kotsifas of the Oceania Taekwondo Union; and Ji-ho Choi of the Pan American Taekwondo Union were all re-elected.
Despite 28 candidates for the 12 available Council seats, 10 members were re-elected. An–chin Hsu of Chinese Taipei and Inseon Kim of Canada are the two new members of the Council.
There were only two candidates for two auditor slots, with Ali Sagirkaya of Turkey and Dalibor Krpan of Croatia being re-elected.
The newly elected and re-elected officers take up their duties after the World Championships conclude on June 30.
Choue, who was first elected as WTF president in 2004, spoke to the Assembly before the vote.
He insisted that the future of the sport is bright despite the challenges it faces in adapting to new media, the increasing regulatory oversight of sports and the rise of new forms of sport and entertainment.
"Taekwondo family will not be slaves to change. We will be masters of it," Choue promised.
Choue is calling for the WTF to be more focused on its athletes. His vision includes diversifying its formats to ensure that everyone is included while also upgrading the spectator value of all events.
He also stressed that Taekwondo now has a major humanitarian role to play with refugees and teaching children "how to live as good global citizens ".
Choue is also president of the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, a charitable initiative with the mission of empowering refugees, displaced persons and orphans worldwide by teaching them taekwondo.
The Assembly did adopt a declaration pledging support for peace and care for refugees and orphans around the world.
Among other decisions taken at the Congress was the awarding of the 2018 World Team Championships to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and the 2020 edition to Tunis in Tunisia.
French Guiana was also approved as the 208th member of the federation.
Written by Gerard Farekwith reporting from Muju, South Korea.
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