Lee Kyu Seok´s crushing victory in ATU elections

In a tense atmosphere and after a lot of speculations about who would lead the most powerful and influential Taekwondo union, the elections were and resulted in an overwhelming victory.

MasTaekwondo.com had informed (See: The ATU elections are coming and the war has already began) that there were four candidates running for the ATU Presidency, however only two candidates finally competed: Lee Kyu Seok of South Korea, current Vice President, Secretary General and Treasurer of the institution and Mr. Milan Kwee, WTF Council Member and Chairman Taekwondo Association of Singapore.

Seyed Mohammad Pouladgar, President of the Iranian Taekwondo Federation and Kim Tae Sung, member of the ATU Executive Council did not participated at the end, as masTaekwondo.com had informed recently. (See: Still problems in the ATU election process). Pouladgar did not have enough time to meet all the requirements, and Kim, preferred to resign his candidacy to support Lee Kyu Seok.

The final election result was crushing: 44 votes for Lee and 9 votes for Kwee, which showed the great support Lee Kyu Seok continues to have in ATU in spite of the rumors and speculation before the election.

Several WTF observers were present at the election in order to confirm that the process was being carried out with transparency and democracy: Among them were Jung-ae Park and Corbin Min; the Election Committee was led by Sung Chon Hong from Philippines, and the MNA´s presidents of Japan, Jordan, Nepal.

When asked about their decision, the presidents of the MNA members said that they consider that Taekwondo should remain in Korea and so the president of the Asian Taekwondo Union should be Korean. These comments reveal how conservative and centralized the members of this Continental Union still are.

There was not election for the executive committee and vice president as all members gave complete support and confidence to Lee to choose the staff and people who will work with him during the next term in ATU leadership.

What is the future of ATU taking into account this decision? Consequently, what future waits for Taekwondo in the world? As ATU is the most powerful and influential continental union, keep posted about all the information from there following masTaekwondo.com.

Alex Korram, Exclusive masTaekwondo.com

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