By Gary Anderson

September 30 - Great Britain's Olympic champion Jade Jones right will be one of the stars benefiting from new sponsorship dealGB Taekwondo has announced a new sponsorship agreement with Beacon Bingo and sister company Cashino that will see the gaming firms support athletes such as Olympic champion Jade Jones in the build up to Rio 2016.

Under the new partnership, Beacon Bingo and Cashino, Britain's largest chain of adult gaming centres, will sponsor the inaugural World Taekwondo Grand Prix taking place in Manchester in December, and support the preparations of Jones and the likes of her teammates, London 2012 bronze medallist Lutalo Muhammad and 2011 World Championship bronze medal winner Martin Stamper, in their preparations for the prestigious event.

Muhammed and Michael Harvey, who will also compete at the Grand Prix event, both claimed European Championship gold medals in Manchester, last year.

"After all of the success achieved at London 2012, and the good will it engendered throughout the country, we were keen to get involved with a sport which had enjoyed success," said Nick Harding, chief executive of the two gaming firms' parent company, Praesepe.

"After agreeing a deal to sponsor Jade earlier this year, we felt the next step in our developing relationship was to support the senior GB team and the Grand Prix.

"The sponsorship will work on a number of levels, engaging with our 1,200 staff and the 500,000 customers who each year frequent our 170 venues and bingo clubs throughout Britain."

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Grand Prix in Manchester, which is due to take place from December 13 to 15 and forms part of UK Sport's £27 million ($44 million/€32 million) Gold Event Series, will see the UK host the world's best competitors for the first time since London 2012.

Lutalo Muhammad will be hoping to be smiling in Manchester again following his European success there last yearLutalo Muhammad will be hoping to be smiling in Manchester again following his European success there last year





















































The competition at Manchester Central is the first of a planned four Grand Prix series events by the WTF to raise standards of competition in between Olympics and World Championships and also an attempt to capitalise on what it believes is an increase in popularity of the sport following London 2012.

After Manchester, where 250 of the top taekwondo athletes in the world will compete across eight weight categories for qualification points ahead of Rio 2016, three more events are planned across different continents next year, culminating in the top eight men and women going on to compete in a Grand Prix Final at the end of 2014.

"We're delighted to be working with an organisation that is committed to supporting our GB team in its preparations for both the World Taekwondo Grand Prix, an exciting addition to the international calendar, and our long term target -Rio 2016," said GB Taekwondo operations director, Steve Flynn.

"The partnership will enable us to promote the sport to a wider audience whilst enabling us to engage with Cashino and Beacon staff and customers alike, giving them direct access to a unique and dynamic Olympic sport."

Tickets for the event are now on sale and for further information click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related Stories
August 2013: Tickets for inaugural World Taekwondo Grand Prix on sale next week
August 2013: GB Taekwondo extends Hire Intelligence partnership for live events
June 2013: Manchester to stage taekwondo Grand Prix series debut
December 2013: World Taekwondo Grand Prix series launched to build on success of London 2012
November 2012: GB Taekwondo launch new scheme to find fresh talent for Rio 2016