President Chen Shui-bian (
"We will ask our International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國) to assist [the federation's] request," Chen said while receiving the federation's president Choue Chung-won at the Presidential Office yesterday. "We will also seek more international forums for our taekwondo athletes to display their talents."
The number of sports to be a part of the 2012 Olympic Games is currently limited to 28. The martial art of taekwondo, along with baseball, softball and the modern pentathlon, is rumored to be on the list of sports that may be chopped from the official Olympic program.
The fate of these sports will be decided tomorrow when IOC members meet in Singapore. Aside from reviewing the selection of sports for the 2012 Olympics, the IOC members will also choose the host city for the games.
Chen told Choue that taekwondo is one of the sports that Taiwan is promoting, and noted that Taiwanese athletes won two gold and three bronze medals when the sport was first featured in the Olympics in 1988 as a demonstration sport.
At the Olympic Games last year in Athens, Taiwan's taekwondo athletes were able to compete with those from other countries in a fair environment thanks to Choue's insistence on good and impartial referees, Chen said. Taiwanese athletes Chen Shih-hsin (
Praising Choue for his push for more accuracy and fairness in taekwondo scoring by setting up a committee to reform the competition system and introducing the use of electronic scoring devices, Chen said he believes these measures will win the approval of all 125 IOC members and allow the sport to be included in the 2012 Olympics.
Chen also expressed hope that Choue will continue to boost taekwondo exchanges between the South Korea and Taiwan.
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