The Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) Invitational Taekwondo Open is back, and 100 athletes have so far indicated interest to participate in the 2023 edition.
The 6th edition of the Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) Invitational Taekwondo Open will take place on 12th August, 2023 at the Indoor Basketball Hall of Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
The founder of CCSF, Chika Chukwumerije said 64 males and 36 females, from six Abuja-based taekwondo clubs are confirmed for the event.
He said, “The FCT Taekwondo Association-sanctioned event will deploy an electronic display scoring system while the competitors will compete in a round-robin format to ensure participants get a lot of exposure and experience.
Chukwumerije, Nigeria’s National Captain to the London 2012 Olympics and former African Champion promised a well-organised event that would be memorable for both competitors and spectators.
“We want young athletes to be properly exposed, so it is important for officiating to be fair and transparent and operations to run without hitches. We also want our guests who come to the event to have a great time experiencing various things,” he said.
Chukwumerije who took a sabbatical after successfully guiding Nigeria’s second-ever female Taekwondo Olympian, Elizabeth Anyanacho, to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics explained that the current target of his foundation.
“We have suspended our high-performance project after its successful 6-year run that culminated in producing an Olympian, African Medalist and several National champions.
‘’My foundation will now focus on hosting sports entertainment events and using proceeds and donations to kickstart an orphanage project, which seeks to empower orphans through sports and computer skills acquisition. We will use our sports entertainment events to highlight our new focus,” he said.
For Saturday’s tourney, medals will be awarded in 19 various categories, including eight kiddies, nine cadets and two junior categories.
The event is a test-run event for a bigger edition planned for December 2023.