Martial artists from across the province will be descending upon Airdrie this weekend for the 2024 Taekwon-Do Provincial Championships, which will be held at Genesis Place on Saturday.
Purveyors of the popular Korean combat sport will compete amongst each other in different age groups for the right to claim gold, silver, and bronze medals. The championship is hosted by Apollo Taekwon-Do, a Calgary based taekwon-do school.
“We are very excited to invite you to participate in the 2024 Alberta Provincial Taekwon-Do Championships,” reads a statement from Apollo Taekwon-Do. “It is our goal to provide an amazing and memorable experience for all participants and their supporters. This will be a well-organized event with an excellent level of competition and sportsmanship, demonstrating the true spirit of the original International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) Taekwon-Do.”
The Saturday morning opening ceremonies will commence at 9:00 am, with different colour belt categories and age groups sparring throughout the day until the championships conclusion at 7:00 pm.
According to the information package circulated among registrants, the provincial championship allows for participants ranging in age from as young as five, to 46 plus. The categories that will be covered by the championship are pre-junior, games 12 to 14, junior, 15 to 17 year-olds, adult, 18 plus, super senior, 36 plus, and veteran, anyone over 46 years-old.
Four different medals will be handed out to winners of the age and belt colour categories– gold, silver, and two bronzes. The provincial championship will follow the Canadian Taekwon-Do Federation International rules package. Registration was open to anyone interested in competing, however the registration period formally closed on April 20.
Since 2021, taekwon-do has been one of three Asian martial arts, including judo and karate, that have been included at the Olympic Games. While it may not be at the level of the Olympics, the 2024 Provincial Championships should prove to be an entertaining and intense day of martial art mastery.