Elite academy soon, target is 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Fifteen to 17-year-olds will be selected from across the state and provided food, education and accommodation at the facility, all set to come up in the capital

The ‘Elite Taekwondo Academy’ for training youngsters to kick and punch their way to Olympic medals is finally becoming a reality in Thiruvananthapuram.

First proposed to the state government by the Taekwondo Association of Kerala (TAKE) in 2012, the plan has now assumed concrete shape, TAKE state general secretary Aji B said. A residential facility for teaching the Korean martial art, the academy will have Olympic medal winners from Korea to train handpicked youngsters, Aji said. Each batch will have up to 60 youngsters.

‘’The academy will be based in Thiruvananthapuram, although we are yet to decide whether it should be set up as an independent institution or with the help of the Sports Authority of India (SAI). This will be finalised soon. Fifteen to 17-year-olds will be selected from across the state and provided food, education and accommodation at the facility. The target is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,’’ said the TAKE general secretary.

Characterised by high, flashy kicks, taekwondo had recently grabbed headlines after actor Mohanlal was conferred with an honorary black belt. An Olympic sport since 2000, taekwondo matches are fast, and, at the international level, even uses electronic equipment to judge scores. Kerala has a good reputation in this Korean sport and art of self-defence, being national-level champion in the junior division for three years running. Last year, the state was overall champions in the senior division. This September 20-22, the seniors will be matching their skills with counterparts from across India at Manipur.

Although karate was the first oriental martial art to take root in Kerala, taekwondo - relatively a more recent entrant - has quickly gained numerous young fans because of its Olympics connection.There are around 12,000 taekwondo practitioners in Kerala at present, according to TAKE. TAKE runs at least ten clubs in every district and SAI and the Kerala State Sports Council run two centres each.

In addition to this, several schools have taekwondo as an extra-curricular activity.