The THF pilot project in Nepal has been officially launched ©WTF

The Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) pilot project in Nepal has been officially launched with a ceremony held in Khaandi Chaur.

A delegation from the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), including President Chungwon Choue, conducted a three-day visit to the country to inaugurate the project, which aims to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the devastating 2015 earthquake in the Asian nation.

During the ceremony, a WTF demonstration team performed an exhibition of the sport and a cheque worth $10,000 (£6,840/€8,932) was presented to local Nepalese officials.

Around 300 taekwondo uniforms, as well as three boxes of kicking pads, were given out as part of the initiative.

It took place on the sports field at Shree Bal Shikchha Higher Secondary School and saw a large crowd gather for the ceremony.

Nepalese Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun and Sports and Youth Minister Shatya Narayan Mandal were both in attendance for the event, which came after Choue met with Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli ahead of a visit to local refugee camps.

The THF will discharge teams of instructors to teach taekwondo to young people in refugee camps around the world, keeping them active, while aiming to install in them taekwondo's philosophy and values of Olympism.

“We are here to support you, we are especially here to support this region, and we are here to support your children,” Choue said.

“I saw the young practitioners’ eyes, and saw how eager they are to learn taekwondo.

“This is just the beginning.

“There will be more help in the future - more help in the coming days.”

A demonstration of taekwondo was held during the ceremony in Nepal
A demonstration of taekwondo was held during the ceremony in Nepal ©WTF

During the WTF visit to the earthquake-hit region, the delegation witnessed first-hand some of the devastation caused by the disaster, which killed more than 8,000 people and injured more than 21,000.

They drove from Khaandi Chaur to some of the worst-affected areas, where they saw piles of bricks and rubble between buildings as well as materials that had been displaced as the result of a landslide.

“I had never been in an earthquake zone before today,” Oceania Taekwondo President John Kotsifas said.

“I was overwhelmed and shocked.”

The ceremony came after the WTF opened an academy at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan as part of the THF pilot programme in December.

The sport’s governing body recently announced that they would take expand the project to Kilis, Turkey, following Choue visiting the Oncupinar Accommodation Center in Kilis, which is situated near Turkey's border with Syria.