First Pan American President's Cup kicks off in South America

PATU Press.- The poomsae competitions with the top figures of this modality in the region will kick off this September 22 the action of the President's Cup Pan-America, the seventh edition of this important tournament promoted by World Taekwondo in all continents and that for the first time in seven editions will be held outside the United States, in South America, specifically in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

On the evening of September 21, in the framework of the tournament's Technical Meeting led by Mario Mandel, PATU Secretary General; Hung Ki Kim, PATU Vice President and technical delegate of the competition; Vusala Valiyeva, PATU Games Chairman; Axel Sánchez, PATU Referee Chairman; Conrado González, PATU auditor and Elvin Landrau, PATU Vice President, details of the competition organized jointly by the Brazilian Taekwondo Confederation and the Pan American Union were given.

"Welcome to Brazil, a land that today is much happier for having great exponents of world and Pan-American taekwondo in the President's Cup of America", were the words offered by Junior Maciel, president of the CBTKD.

For his part, Mandel, on behalf of LAE. Juan Manuel López Delgado, president of PATU, reiterated the "commitment of everyone to make this event a great tournament, due to the importance it has for its proximity to the upcoming Pan American Games Santiago 2023".

Hung Ki Kim, PATU vice-president and designated by World Taekwondo as technical delegate of the competition, emphasized that "this is the first President's Cup to be held in South America and it is an honor and a privilege for us as Pan American Union to celebrate this event that awards 20 points to the world and Olympic rankings, as well as 80 points to the Pan American ranking, all before the end of the year".

A total of 30 nations are present at the seventh edition of the President's Cup Pan-America, which is being held at the Carioca 1 Arena, the Olympic and Paralympic venue for basketball, weightlifting, Olympic wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby, as part of the Rio 2016 Games.

The President's Cup is a continental tournament held around the world to promote taekwondo and at the same time serve as a platform for the world's athletes to earn important points for the world and Olympic rankings.

In the Pan American region, Portland, Oregon, hosted the first edition in 2016. Later, Las Vegas hosted the tournament for three consecutive editions in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2022, Jacksonville, Florida, resumed action of the President's Cup Pan-America once the difficulties caused by COVID-19 around the world were overcome.