The one-day event is on course to be a record breaker as more than 75 athletes from 15 nations make the trip to Antalya's coastal resort of Belek.

This marks a 50 per cent increase from the 2013 Championships in Bucharest, where 48 athletes from 12 countries competed.

Today, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) will hold an international classifier training course as part of its commitment to developing experts in Para-taekwondo through specialist education programmes.

This is followed by tomorrow's athlete classification, which will take place using the latest WTF classification rules which have been developed using evidence-based research to ensure fair and equal competition.

Then, on Thursday (November 27), athletes will compete in the hope of securing a coveted European title.

Athletes have begun arriving in Belek as they get prepared for the European Para-Taekwondo Championships on Thursday ©Facebook



Taekwondo was not named as one of the initial 16 sports set to be included on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic programme, but will have a second bite of the apple when the International Paralympic Committee meets for its Governing Board meeting scheduled for Abu Dhabi on January 30 and February 1 next year.

"Para-taekwondo is a relatively new sport but we are growing rapidly," said WTF President Chungwon Choue.

"As we will see at the third European Para-Taekwondo Championships, every time we host a competition we attract more athletes from more countries.

"We are constantly looking to establish new international championships in order to strengthen our quadrennial programme and provide the very highest level of competition for our athletes.

"With 206 National Federations around the world we have so much potential to grow our global participation in Para-taekwondo.

"We are calling on all of our Federations to help us promote Para-taekwondo and realise this potential.

"If we have the honour of being included in the 2020 Paralympic Programme it will act as a catalyst for even greater global participation and help unlock public and private funding across all our National Federations."

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