Held simultaneously, the competitions will take place from March 31 to April 2 in the Amahoro Indoor Stadium in Kigali.

Speaking at a press conference at the venue, secretary general Placide Bagabo was confident Rwanda’s capital city will host the events to a high standard.

Bagabo claimed the Championships would both play a role in selecting the country’s national teams, heading towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Last year, para-taekwondo was added to the Paralympic programme for the first time, with the sport set to make its debut at the Games in 2020.

“We expect at least 600 players from about 30 countries across the world, countries will be eligible to participate in both competitions and as Rwanda we are very glad to host such big tournaments that will attract such a great number of players in the history of our country,” Bagabo said, according to The New Times.

“We need to use this opportunity to prepare both our teams for Olympic and Paralympic qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 because we aim to debut at the next Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The African Para Taekwondo Open will be organised by the RTF with the support of the African Taekwondo Union.

All athletes who wish to enter must have an approved global licence from the WTF and must have signed the event waiver.

Rwanda was awarded the hosting rights for the event at the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) General Assembly in November, with the country set to debut in the Para-taekwondo event.

The first edition of the Championships were held in Egypt’s capital Cairo, last May.

The Gorilla Open is set to take place for the fourth time, with the event having traditionally attracted local and regional athletes.

It currently holds G-1 event ranking status, which is the lowest grade for a WTF event.