Taekwondo: NSCDC To defend Title At  Korean Ambassador Cup

Josephine  Esuku

Perennial champion, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) is not ready to relinquish their title when the annual Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Cup begins on Friday December 1 in Abuja.

Having dominated the tournament in the last four years, the para-military team is doing everything to ensure they are not dethroned even by the foreigners this year.

According to the coach of NSCDC, John Victor, nothing can stop the team from clinching the title considering the performance of their athletes at the just concluded Lagos International Classics.

With the experience of Commonwealth gold medalist, Josephine Esuku, the team is poised for a showdown against any opposition at this year’s tournament.

Already, teams competing at the two-day tournament have arriving Abuja for the weigh-in and draws which hold on Thursday November 30.

The foreign teams – Cameroon, Niger Republic and Chad will be coming with members of their national teams as part of their build up to the 2019 African Games as well as to assess some of Nigeria’s athletes in readiness for next year’s African Championships.

The Gymnasium Hall of Package B at the National Stadium in Abuja will host the tournament and the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) has promised to use the tournament to rate the players as well as assemble new set of athletes for national teams.

Aside the medals, winners will be given top quality taekwondo equipment by the Korean Cultural Centre, while NTF ranking points will also be for grabs for medalists and participants based on their performance.

On the readiness for the tournament, Chairman, NTF Technical Committee, Sani Lawal, everything is in place for a successful tournament.

“Our committees – events and referee committees have been working tirelessly over the past few weeks to ensure we have a great event. We are more than ready to welcome our practitioners and those from other countries to Abuja,” Lawal said.