National Taekwondo championship inaugurated

LUDHIANA: The 36th National junior male and female kyorugi and 9th Poomsae Taekwondo championship, 2016 was inaugurated by

Punjab Taekwondo Association

on Friday. A total of 33 teams are participating in the National Taekwondo championship.

The winner will participate in the

Canada

Taekwondo Championship on November 10 and

Aurangabad Taekwondo Camp

on October 1.

More than 800 students participated in the National Taekwondo championship at Guru Nanak Stadium, which was inaugurated by education minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema. Addressing the gathering, he said the state government has taken several initiatives to promote sports in the state. He said a new policy has been framed to provide government jobs to sportspersons winning laurels on the international level. He went on announce a grant of Rs 2 lakh to the Punjab Taekwondo Federation from his discretionary funds.

Jaspal Singh, general secretary, Punjab Taekwondo Association (

PTA

) said Rs 1,300 will be reduced from the registration fee at state level. Initially, he said the national level fee for Taekwondo was Rs 8,000 but it has now been slashed to Rs 300. He said equipment like head guard and chest guard will be given free of cost to the host federation. However, on ground facilities presented a completely different picture. Non-functional fans and lack of ventilation left students hassled in the afternoon. As seating arrangements fell short, students were seen sitting on the floor.