Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The World Taekwondo Council today canceled the 2020 World Taekwondo Junior Championships in order to protect the health and wellbeing of all participants.

Meeting via videoconference, the Council unanimously agreed that the safety of the World Taekwondo family is the number one priority. Following extensive consultation with Member National Associations, World Taekwondo Committees, including the Medical and Anti-Doping Committee, and in line with guidance from national health authorities, it was decided this year’s Championships should be canceled.

Sofia, originally the host of the 2020 championships, will now host the 2022 edition. Dakar was planned to be the host of the 2022 Junior World Championships to coincide with the 2022 Youth Olympic Games, however, as that event has now been postponed, World Taekwondo is in discussion with Dakar regarding the hosting of future editions.

WT President Chungwon Choue during the WT Virtual Extraordinary Council MeetingWorld Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue said:

“It is with great disappointment that we will not be able to host the World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Sofia this year and we are sorry for all those young athletes who have been training so hard for this competition. However, we have always been very clear that the health of our World Taekwondo family must come first. After a thorough discussion with all relevant parties, including medical experts, we agreed it would not be safe to go ahead with the Championships this year as planned. We have no doubt that Sofia will host a fantastic event in 2022.”

As a result of the cancellation, the World Taekwondo General Assembly, which was due to take place in Sofia, will be held virtually on 6 October 2020 with the Council meeting to take place the day before. It will be the first time in World Taekwondo’s history that a General Assembly will be held virtually.

Decisions on the Cancun 2020 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final and the Wuxi 2020 World Taekwondo Grand Slam, scheduled for later this year, will be taken at the Council meeting in October. In the meantime, World Taekwondo will remain in regular contact with the organisers and respective national `authorities to keep updated on the situation in those countries.