CCSF Taekwondo Tournament Eyes WTF G-1 Event Status

The annual Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) International Taekwondo Opens may become a World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Grade 1 event in 2016.
With this status, the tournament would become a point hauling event for athletes across the globe as taekwondists are expected to use the tournament to up their world ranking.
Being the first tournament in Africa to use the electronic head gear, the CCSF championship has continued to attract the best fighters in the continent with countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger Republic, Togo, Cameroun and Senegal taking part in this year’s tournament.
The Dream Daily leant that efforts are on by the organizers of the CCSF Open to apply for the status from the world taekwondo ruling body.
For the best athlete of this year’s tournament, Mali’s Karamoko Soumare (+80kg), attending the tournament has really exposed him to world class equipment which would aid him in subsequent tournaments.
“Having attended series of tournament across Africa, I realized that CCSF tournament stands out in terms of organization and quality of equipment. The atmosphere was also superb. Being my first time of taking part in the competition, I think the knowledge I acquired would be helpful to me in other international tournaments and I look forward to taking part in more CCSF tourneys,” the Malian star said.
Soumare who won gold in the men’s heavyweight category believes the quality of athletes in Nigeria is enormous while blaming their under-achievement on lack of exposure of most of their athletes.
“I respect Nigerian athletes particularly with the pedigree of their athletes, but they have not been able to use this to their advantage at international tournaments. We attend a lot of international tournaments but I hardly see Nigerians competing and this has really affected their rating globally. But attending international competition is vital for any nation to improve its athletes,” he added.
Also silver medallist at the CCSF Opens, Cameroun’s Kamgue Silvre hailed the organizers for putting the colourful tournament together, which he described as a world-class championship.
“I am surprised with the quality of organization as well as the atmosphere which is of international standard. I am indeed looking forward to the next edition because I have been able to up my skills as well as improve my rating among the best fighters in Africa. Winning silver will surely improve my chance of representing my country at the Olympics qualifiers come 2016. When the tournament gets the WTF G-1 rating, I believe more athletes within and outside Africa will be part of the tournament,” Kamgue, winner of the fair play award said.