On behalf of the University of California Martial Arts Program, we are pleased to let you know that our founding director Dr. Ken Min has been re-appointed as Taekwondo Technical Chairperson for FISU (International University Sports Federation).

For your information, University Taekwondo Movement started our own campus under the outstanding leadership of Dr. Ken Min in 1986 when the UC Martial Arts Program hosted the 1st World University Taekwondo Championship on campus. Here are some footsteps of history in University Taekwondo developments.

The 1st FISU WUTC was followed by the 2nd in Santander, Spain; the 3rd in Guadalajara, Mexico; the 4th in St. Petersburg, Russia; the 5th in Manzanillo-Colima, Mexico; the 6th in Kaohsiung, Taipei; the 7th in Berkeley, California USA; the 8th in Patra, Greece; the 9th  in Valencia, Spain.  The 10th WUTC was held highly successfully in Belgrade, Serbia as a test event for the 2009 Summer Universiade. The 11th was held in 2010 at Vigo, Spain; and  the 12th WUTC will be held at Pocheon, Korea in May, 2012.  The FISU Executive Committee passed taekwondo as a FISU event for the World University Championships on May 8-10, 1986 at Zagreb, Croatia.

Taekwondo was first introduced as a Summer Universiade program in Daegu, S. Korea (2003). The popularity of university taekwondo has increased dramatically in every subsequent Summer Universiade from Izmir, Turkey (2005); Bangkok, Thailand (2007); and in Belgrade, Serbia (2009) where Poomsae was officially added along with Kyorugi in the 25th Summer Universiade. Therefore, all future WUTC and Summer Universiades will hold combined competition for 5 divisions of Poomsae and 16 divisions of Kyorugi. The 26th Summer Universiade was held in Shenzhen, China (2011) with the largest number of nations and athletes participating.   Kwangju, Korea will host the 28th Summer Universiade in 2015.  A resolution was passed at Erzurum, Turkey on November 12-14, 2009 to include Taekwondo as a compulsory program from the 29th Summer Universiade in 2017.

As you may know Dr. Min’s lifetime dedication as well as his never ending endeavors on developing University Taekwondo brought up a compulsory status in the Summer Universiade Games through FISU. It is such great news that Dr. Min and UCMAP’s leadership will continue to serve the University Taekwondo Movement in the next four years under FISU. Again, congratulations on Dr. Min’s recognition and reappointment!