ETU President Sakis Pragalos, second left, and World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue, centre, were among the officials present at the meeting between leaders ©ETU

World Taekwondo's leadership met with their counterparts from the European Taekwondo Union (ETU) alongside the European Games here to discuss the future for the sport on the continent.

Taekwondo competition concluded yesterday at the Krynica-Zdrój Arena, having returned to the European Games programme after its absence at Minsk 2019.

Ranking points gained count towards qualification for next year's Olympic Games in Paris. 

World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue and secretary general Jeongkang Seo travelled to Poland for the Games, and met with ETU President Sakis Pragalos, secretary general Antonio Barbarino, vice-president Slavi Binev and sport director Giannis Mouroutsos.

Challenges in European taekwondo and plans for the future were discussed by ETU and World Taekwondo leaders ©ETU
Challenges in European taekwondo and plans for the future were discussed by ETU and World Taekwondo leaders ©ETU

The officials discussed the current position and challenges faced by taekwondo in Europe, with a focus on athlete development, continental event planning and strategic initiatives.

Choue presented medals on the first day of taekwondo competition on Friday (June 23).

Choue and Greek official Pragalos are long serving in their leadership positions, having held them since 2004 and 1999 respectively.

Pragalos is also a vice-president of World Taekwondo.

Taekwondo returned to the European Games programme at Kraków-Małopolska 2023 after missing out at Minsk 2019 ©Getty Images
Taekwondo returned to the European Games programme at Kraków-Małopolska 2023 after missing out at Minsk 2019 ©Getty Images

Taekwondo is one of 21 Olympic sports on the programme for Kraków-Małopolska 2023, and featured eight medal events in each gender.

It is distinct from the biennial European Taekwondo Championships most recently held in Manchester in Britian last year and the European Qualification Tournament due to be held in Germany's capital Berlin in March next year for Paris 2024.

The European Games are due to finish on Sunday (July 2).