On 29th May 2013 in the Central Sports Center “Torwar” at Lazienkowska 6a street in Warsaw - the capitol of Poland, took place a very special meeting of Mrs. Joanna Mucha – the Minister of Sport and Tourism of Poland and the members of the Polish Taekwon-Do National Team, who participated in the 28th Senior and 19th Junior European Taekwon-Do Championships held on 3rd- 5th May 2013 in Skovde, Sweden.

The meeting was attended by 64 participants – members of the 74-membered delegation present in Skovde.

At the beginning the Minister Joanna Mucha welcomed all participants. She asked for a small introduction and a short sport success resume of each present competitor.

Master Tadeusz Loboda – President of the PTA Board of Directors welcomed the Minister of Sport and thanked her for organizing of this meeting. In his presentation he shortly alluded to the history of Taekwon-Do in Poland and its actual potential. Further he singled out two competitors while calling them “Icons” of Taekwon-Do: Mr. Jaroslaw Suska – five times World Champion, twentieth times European Champion and twenty one times Polish Champion in pattern and Ms. Joanna Paprocka - three times World Champion and eight times European Champion in individual sparring competition.

He also referred to Polish Taekwon-Do Association accomplishments pointing out that the victory in Sweden was for the Polish Team the 21st victory in a row in overall medal classification on the old continent. In his opinion this was probably a phenomenon in the country maybe even in the world range.

He said that at this meeting there were more European Champions and World Champions, but because of time restrictions it was hard to properly introduce all of them. Subsequently he introduced the tallest competitors, who hold at least 190 cm. Then he introduced competitors who most frequently represented clubs from Wroclaw, Lubartów, Legnica, Warsaw and Ciechanow.

Next the Sport Minister watched two short movies. The first one, called „ Euphoria” was prepared by Mr. Slavek Dydiszko, the Organizers of the Euros 2013. Also thanks to his courtesy, Mr. Daniel Pawłowicz prepared another footage in which he used shortcuts from the official European Championships 2013 trailer as well as the records of chosen actions of Polish Taekwon-Do Team competitors. Subsequently during the whole meeting there were pictures displayed showing actions and scenes from the Championships.

Polish Taekwon-Do Association representatives prepared little gifts for Mrs. Mucha. It was a memorial medal from the Championships and the Polish Taekwon-Do Team t-shirt with the signatures of all those present at the meeting.

 

The Ministry of Sport and Tourism prepared special congratulations badges and treat for the participants.

In her speech Mrs. Joanna Mucha said that Martial Arts are especially close to her. She declared her support for Polish Taekwon-Do Association where possible.

Mr. Michał Korzybski the coach of Male Team confirmed that the results achieved in Sweden overstepped the anticipations made before the tournament. He also pointed out that the success was a consequence of the competitors and their clubs coaches’ preparations and because of Polish Taekwon-do Association good organizational level. All this factors contributed to the final achievements. Mr. Korzybski said that Taekwon-do has a potential which should not be wasted.

 

Mr. Łukasz Stawarz – also the coach of Male Team explained that despite of such a great account of medals including 20 gold, it was not easy to fight off the competition to get them. Clashes often ended with minimal point difference or they were won after additional playoffs. Mr. Stawarz also informed that the Championships in Sweden were a very important point in the process of preparations to the most important event of the year which are the World Championships 2013 in Spain. The nearest months and efforts made by competitors should verify the level of the team, which went through generations’ reorganization last year.

Next Master Łoboda asked Mr. Wiesław Pawłat, a sport journalist from a newspaper in Lublin to say few words. Mr. Pawłat, who had accompanied the Team in Sweden, confirmed that he was observing the development of Taekwon-do for a long time not only from professional duty and he confirmed really high level of Polish Taekwon-Do Team. He singled out the great atmosphere ruling on the whole Championships but also among Polish Taekwon-Do Team Members.

Master Jerzy Jedut used this opportunity and handed the Minister Joanna Mucha an invitation to the final gala of the upcoming 26th Polish Seniors Taekwon-Do Championships to be held on 8th June in Lubartów.

Directly after the meeting the time has come to take pictures with the Minister of Sport. The small photo session ended with a whole group photo.

After Mrs. Joanna Mucha left the meeting all who gathered in the hall exchanged their opinions about the future of Taekwon-Do and further directions of its development.

The members of the Polish Team will meet again at the Polish Junior Taekwon-do Championships and on the weekend 7-9th June 2013 for the last official tournament in this school year – the Polish Senior Taekwon-Do Championships.