Australian Taekwondo have received a boost of AUS$200,000 in Government funding for the next year ©Australian Taekwondo

Australian Taekwondo have received an extra AUS$200,000 (£118,000/$151,000/€134,000) in Government funding for the next year.

It was announced by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and Australian Institute of Sports (AIS) that the governing body will be given the money to help increase participation in taekwondo across the country.

They have also been given AUS$351,004 (£207,402/$264,527/€235,973) to help fund their high performance programme.

In recent years, the money for the high performance programme has been controlled by the ASC and AIS.

However, for the 2017-2018 financial year, it will be controlled by Australian Taekwondo.

This is because the organisation have met a series of “governance milestones”, according to their chief executive Joelie Chisholm.

Lauren Burns won gold for Australia at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games ©Getty Images
Lauren Burns won gold for Australia at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games ©Getty Images

Since taekwondo was first introduced to the sports programme of the Olympic Games at Sydney 2000, Australia have claimed two medals.

Both came at the Games they hosted 17 years ago.

Lauren Burns won the first when she topped the podium of the women’s under 49 kilogram competition, where she defeated Urbia Melendez of Cuba in the final.

This was followed up by Daniel Trenton in the men’s over 80kg event, where he got a silver medal after being beaten by South Korea’s Kim Kyong-hun.