The ITF World Championship 2022 in the Netherlands is already beginning, there are just hours left to start vibrating and enjoying all the excitement of Taekwon-do in a great competition that brings us face to face, after the complicated times of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nothing better then than Master Michael Muleta, Secretary General of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF), to tell us in his capacity as President and Technical Director of United ITF Taekwon-Do Australia, how was the local preparation and his expectations for this competition and his outlook on this World Cup, which is already in the final countdown.
“This Championship was a challenge to prepare a team of course. As many will know Australia was very restricted with COVID lockdowns for over 1 year and all Taekwon-Do schools were closed so we have not been able to perform any championship or selection test for more than 2 years so we relied heavily on people doing their own preparation with minimal interaction with other schools which of course is not ideal but we just have to do what the circumstances dictate and allow. Those who want it enough will keep doing the job.”
What expectations do you have for this ITF World Cup?
I think the great statement and celebration of these championships is simply the fact that the ITF family can once again come together on the mats and be together once again after the many challenges that all countries and people have faced in the last 2 years.
Old friendships will be renewed and many of us will see each other again after what seems like a long time, and with no guarantee that we would ever get back together.
Of course, once on the mats, I hope all that is forgotten and the competition is as fierce as it was before 2020.
We take advantage of the extensive career of Master Michael Muleta and we also invite him to tell us which he thinks will be the countries that will encourage this new ITF World Championship. “I hope that Argentina is again very strong and shows the spirit and resilience to a very challenging Covid experience. Being in Europe, I anticipate a very strong representation of those in the region, particularly from the UK, who are always very strong and looking to be very well organized for this event.Team Ireland always puts in a very energetic and high quality effort.” He also highlights that “Italy also have a very solid team, which is great and I hope they do well. USA and Canada, as always, will be quite competitive and unified, since they always seem to be up to these events. .”
The difficult circumstances of recent times due to the pandemic, with all the problems they have generated, also open up the possibility of some surprises, according to the ITF General Secretary. “With unusual lead-up and preparation for this particular event, I would expect some surprises perhaps from countries that we don’t always see to a large degree winning medals, perhaps from neighboring countries, perhaps from the host Netherlands or the Korea-Japan area, perhaps even Australia…we can only wait and see what happens.”
Master Michael Muleta highlights a unique fact within his national team, which even exceeds the number of members and the usual preparation of the Australian delegation due to the challenges mentioned above. “We have a unique father and son combination: Phillip Zdybel and Joshua Zdybel, who each competed in 6 ITF world championships together, from 2004 in Korea to this year in 2022 in the Netherlands. While Joshua has previously medaled, I believe that his father Phillip also has a chance this time in Seniors. This may be the year they each win a medal together.”
“The rest of our team is experiencing Worlds for the first time, so I hope they learn a lot from the exposure. Anytime you’re in a competition, you always have a chance if you put in your best effort.”
To close this talk with Master Michael Muleta, he tells us how Taekwon-do in Australia becomes resilient after these two hard years, which even caused school closures. “We are beginning to recover from a very challenging two years in which we have not been able to organize competitions in person or travel within the country, let alone internationally. Many schools closed due to the inability to teach, and many students lost the continuity of education and the motivation to return after such a long break.
However, just in the last few months I have traveled across the country and have seen first hand that the recovery is becoming apparent and I am very confident that we will be back at the next World Championships with our usual strong representation.”