KUCHING: President of Sarawak Taekwondo Association (PTNS) Salleh Sani yesterday reiterated that the association is the only recognised Taekwondo governing body in the state.
“Persatuan Taekwondo Negeri Sarawak is the only one recognised by both Taekwondo Malaysia (TM) and World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) … there should not be any issue about this,” he said while clarifying the association’s position as the local governing body.
He was commenting on Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) recent announcement on TM as the recognised governing body for Taekwondo in the country and not the defunct Malaysia Taekwondo Association (MTA) which had been deregistered.
Salleh said further that there should not be any issue on the legitimacy of PTNS because it had the full support of the State Government through Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) and Ministry of Social Development (KPS).
He said this is evident when PTNS exponents were the ones who represented Sarawak in the last Sukma held in Kuantan, Pahang.
“We are organising the Borneo City Cup Invitational Taekwondo Competition sometime in August and are waiting for the ministry to give us the endorsement,” he said on the coming international event which will be participated by 200 exponents from neighbouring countries.
According to him, participation in the event which is sanctioned by both TM and WTF will be extended to fellow association members from East and West Kalimantan of Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, Sabah and West Malaysia.
“We are organising it in conjunction with the coming Sarawak anniversary celebration and this year’s independence day,” Salleh said on the event which is expected to be one of the largest gathering of Taekwondo exponents in the region.
“We will work closely with the State Education Department so that students from the various primary and secondary schools
can come to join us in the event with the aim to promote Taekwondo among these youngsters,” he added.
With over 5,000 members throughout the state, PTNS is planning to have a larger training centre which could accommodate the growing number of youngsters who are taking up the Korean martial arts.
Presently, the association is still renting a floor space at a shophouse along Jalan Satok as its training, operation and administrative centre.
To accommodate the training needs of student members, the association has to rely on the respective school authorities to allow the weekly sessions to be held at assembly halls.