2005 World Taekwondo Championships Selections

2005 World Taekwondo Championships - New Zealand Selection Tournament

The New Zealand selection tournament for the 2005 World Taekwondo Federation's World Championships are being held in Papakura on Saturday 29th January.

The World Championships are being held in Madrid, Spain from the 13th to the 17th April. The New Zealand Selections will be attended by competitors from a number of WTF style organisations around New Zealand, and a combined team will be selected by officials from the New Zealand WTF Unification Steering Committee which is currently managing the sport under the watchful eye of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

There are eight weight categories in the male and female divisions under WTF international competition rules, in comparison to the four weight divisions at the Olympics. This should see a good number of male and female competitors being selected from around New Zealand as the unified team will be out to put to rest New Zealand's poor Taekwondo performance at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Taekwondo Union of New Zealand President Matt Ransom, who sits on the steering committee for unification is excited about New Zealand's prospects this year. "Provided we get a combined and united team to Spain, we believe that there is some real talent in New Zealand and we will have a team that will raise our world ranking and lay down the platform for better sucesses than in recent years."

The tournament is being held at Lee's Sports Centre, 36 O'Shanessey Street in Papakura on Saturday 29th January with the finals kicking off at 2pm. It is open to the public.

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