President receives Honorary Ninth Dan rank (WTF)

Kazakh President welcomed the visit of the head of the World Taekwondo Federation and noted that it will give further impetus to the development of taekwondo in our country.

"Kazakhstan Taekwondo Federation joined the World Taekwondo Federation in 1993. Since that time this kind of combat sports in our country has been rapidly developing. The sport joins 11,000 people and about 250 trainers. Kazakh sportsmen have won 9 bronze medals at the world championships. We hope that this wonderful sport will continue developing as it is aimed at training young people and promoting healthy lifestyle. I am sure that your visit will draw even more attention to taekwondo", said Nursultan Nazarbayev.

In addition, the President said that our nation has a predisposition to the martial arts and Kazakhstan has achieved good performance in other kinds of combat and power sports.

Chungwon Cho thanked the President for reception and noted the importance of his visit to Kazakhstan aiming at further popularization of Taekwondo in our country.

''I am pleasantly surprised at your extensive knowledge of taekwondo development in Kazakhstan and other countries. Today Kazakhstan is a regular participant in the Olympic Games taekwondo competition. I am sure that in short time Kazakhstani athletes will be able to win Olympic gold medals. Currently, Taekwondo is a dynamically developing kind of combat sports. Thus about 80 million people around the world are engaged in taekwondo. Taekwondo Federation includes 205 countries'', said Chungwon Cho.

The meeting also discussed issues of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Republic of Korea in the field of general and sports medicine as well as projects for the implementation of international standards of health care.

At the end Chungwon Cho has awarded Nursultan Nazarbayev with the honorary ninth dan rank of Taekwondo (WTF) as well as a belt and kimono.

The Head of State noted that the kimono will be subsequently given to the Kazakh athlete who with the highest taekwondo rank.