French Taekwondo Federation President Hassane Sadok, sixth from left, visited the Royal Moroccan Taekwondo Federation headquarters to discuss future collaboration ©FFTDA

The Royal Moroccan Taekwondo Federation and French Taekwondo Federation (FFTDA) have committed to a collaboration agreement. 

FFTDA President Hassane Sadok travelled to Morocco to meet with Royal Moroccan Taekwondo Federation counterpart Driss El Hilali and discuss avenues for cooperation, following initial talks in France.

El Hilali and Sadok initially discussed the idea when El Hilali was part of a delegation visiting Paris to observe the launch of a Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation programme aimed at supporting girls who are refugees in France.

While the FFTDA and Royal Moroccan Taekwondo Federation cooperation agreement has not yet been signed, El Hilali and Sadok have agreed upon a framework.

France's Althéa Laurin, in red, won a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 ©Getty Images
France's Althéa Laurin, in red, won a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 ©Getty Images

It will be centred on developing the pair's high-performance programmes, according to the FFTDA.

Staff exchanges and athletes training with equivalent national teams have been proposed as examples of how this will be done.

French athletes have won medals at every Olympic Games since Sydney 2000, when taekwondo made its debut.

Morocco is yet to win a taekwondo medal at the Olympics, yet across the last two editions of the African Taekwondo Championships no nation has won more medals than Morocco's 29.