I Panamerican Taekwondo Congress gathered more than 400 participants
PATU Press – An unprecedented and historic day was experienced by the taekwondo of the region in the framework of all the activities of certification, training and education held during the I Panamerican Taekwondo Congress from January 25 to 30 in the facilities of FICOTRECE, Aguascalientes, Mexico. A chair that marks the consolidation of the PATU12 Project that advances the current administration of the Panamerican Taekwondo Union.
Three activities of great relevance in the technical, refereeing and professionalization of poomsae brought together more than 400 participants from 36 nations of the continent in Aguascalientes, who were nourished by the experience and wisdom of instructors from World Taekwondo and Panamerican Taekwondo Union, with the objective of standardizing criteria and strengthening the necessary knowledge to face the great challenges of the 2023 Calendar towards Paris 2024: Central American and Caribbean Games and Pan American Games, multisport events in which taekwondo will be held in the Dominican Republic and Chile, respectively.
“It was an emotional and perfect week, full of a lot of knowledge and learning in all directions”, analyzes L.A.E. Juan Manuel Lopez, PATU President and WT Vice President, who valued and thanked the support of his staff, the speakers present, as well as the Government of the State of Aguascalientes and especially FICOTRECE: “They are impressive facilities with the highest standards to organize world-class events”.
IR 2023 Seminar
For three and a half days, Referees from the Pan American area participated in the 135th WT International Referee Course Kyorugui 2023, under the direction of Amely Moras, WT Referee Chairman; Chakir Chelbat, WT ParaTaekwondo Referee Chairman; and Kai Seung, WT Education Department as main speakers, who addressed issues of Kyorugui competition rules, simulation and signaling, IVR scenario, scoring practices, physical training, review and analysis of the rules of parataekwondo, physical tests, signaling in parataekwondo and as a novelty, a thorough review of all regulations to the format of Taekwondo Team competitions. It also delved into issues of medical regulations under the direction of Dr. David Jeong, WT Medical Department.
Panamerican Poomsae Seminar
In its first edition, the Panamerican Poomsae Seminar summoned four Grand Masters of hierarchy and experience in the world and America as speakers: GM Ik Pil Kang, GM Raymond Hsu, GM Yeong Gi Yong and GM Sang Jong Moon, who were joined by IR Dennis Berdugo, to structure a team of WT and PATU instructors who led coaches, technical directors, teachers and athletes on current topics on recognized poomsae, freestyle and its regulations. “It is a great achievement to be able to announce that we managed to certify in Aguascalientes the first generation of Pan American (non-international) coaches and referees for PATU12 events,” reiterated Lopez Delgado.
I Pan American Technical Congress
The first generation of Pan American coaches (non WT events) for PATU12 events were certified after the I Pan American Technical Congress was concluded: Presentations such as the projects for the Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador and Pan American Games, both in 2023, presented by Mario Mandel and Miguel Camacho, PATU Secretary General and Director of Coaches, respectively, were an initial part of this lecture, where the implementation of the Pan American Junior and Cadet Ranking was announced, as well as the technical management systems of the companies BATIO and UPTKD, in charge of Moy Alejo and Jon Garcia.
Axel Sanchez, PATU Referee Chairman and Guillermo Rodriguez, Olympic and Paralympic referee, explained the competition system and rules of Taekwondo Team. Vusala Valiyeva, PATU Games Chairman, explained the role of Technical Directors in the competitions, while Araceli Ornelas, Administrative Director of the PATU Referee College, addressed current issues regarding competition rules.
PATU12: a look to the future
“The idea of this new management of Pan American Taekwondo is to make this Congress an annual event, increasing the number of topics and speakers. We want to go further in all senses and for this type of activities to be a reference in the formation and training of taekwondo in the area”, reiterated López Delgado, who presented to the more than 400 participants what he calls “The great project of the region: PATU12”.
“PATU12 will allow us, in a span of 12 years, to consolidate the structures of the Pan American Taekwondo Union to the point of placing us in the highest places of Olympic and world taekwondo in every sense. That is the genesis of this Congress and also of the whole PATU competitive format”, he highlighted. And he closed: “It was an event of almost a week, of more than 20 hours of work per day, of a lot of pressure and stress, but that has contributed enormously to the unity of Panamerican taekwondo as a big family”.
