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| Athletes compete during the 2019 World Taekwondo Championships in Manchester, England. Courtesy of World Taekwondo |
By Ko Dong-hwan
The European Olympic Committee (EOC) has announced it has selected taekwondo as one of the sports to be included in the 2023 European Games in Poland.
World Taekwondo, the sport's main promoter headquartered in Seoul's Jung District, said the EOC selected taekwondo alongside canoeing and the modern pentathlon for the event in Krakow in Malopolska Province.
Taekwondo has been selected for an European Games program for the second time since the Games' inaugural edition in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2015.
"We are delighted that taekwondo is returning to the sports programme of the 2023 European Games," World Taekwondo President Choue Chung-won said. "The taekwondo competition at Baku 2015 was a great success and we look forward to building on this success for 2023."
The games in Krakow are scheduled to take place one year ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris. Choue said he expects the Polish event "will be a prelude for what we can expect from Europe's best taekwondo athletes and offer vital Olympic qualification points."
The president thanked World Taekwondo Vice President Sakis Pragalos and the Polish Taekwondo Association's President Artur Chmielarz for the sport's selection for the Krakow Games.
Held every four years, the 2023 European Games will take place in June.
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