SEOUL, Korea (Jun. 20, 2025) - To mark World Refugee Day on June 20, World Taekwondo President and Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) Chairman, Dr. Chungwon Choue, reflects on a decade-long journey to create an inclusive, healthy and responsible society through Taekwondo, which was recently exemplified through the 3rd Hope and Dreams Sports Festival in Jordan.
Beginning of the journey
Dr. Choue: “On the International Day of Peace on 21 September 2015, I announced at the headquarters of the United Nations that World Taekwondo (WT) would be creating the THF to use Taekwondo as an enabler for empowering refugees and displaced persons worldwide.”
The following year in 2016, World Taekwondo launched two defining programs – the THF, and Taekwondo Cares for underprivileged communities. Both programs serve different stakeholders but the vision was aligned: to use Taekwondo as a sport for all.
Flagship project
The Humanitarian Sports Centre, initially opened as the Taekwondo Humanitarian Centre in the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, is the THF’s flagship project. In 2017, 14-year-old Syrian refugee Wael Fawaz Al-Farraj was the first in the camp to earn a Taekwondo black belt. He would go on to become a Refugee Athlete Scholarship holder for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, funded by Olympic Solidarity.
Following in his footsteps was Yahya Al Ghotany, who became the first refugee from the Azraq camp to participate in Taekwondo at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Yahya achieved another milestone when he was appointed as the male flagbearer for the Refugee Olympic Team at the Opening Ceremony of the Games.
Historic medal at Paralympic Games
The inclusive nature of Taekwondo and World Taekwondo’s partnership with the Olympic Refuge Foundation and the Terrains d’Avenir in Paris produced another momentous milestone in Paris – the first medal for the Refugee Paralympic Team through Zakia Khudadadi, an Afghan refugee who escaped from the Taliban to participate at Tokyo 2020 and then earned a historic bronze medal at Paris 2024.
Dr. Choue: “Zakia’s story is truly inspirational as WT and the THF had worked in the background with the International Paralympic Committee and governments to help her escape from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over, in time for her to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. In fact, we helped scores of Taekwondo athletes successfully seek asylum during that difficult period.”
Sports offer hope and dreams
Dr. Choue: “The THF has grown even bigger than I could have hoped. Since my call for action to the Olympic and non-Olympic international sports federations at the SportAccord Convention in 2018, we now have more than 10 sports partnering with the THF.”
From the first initiation with Wrestling in 2019 to the creation of the Hope and Dreams Refugee Taekwondo Championships in 2022, the Humanitarian Sports Centre in Azraq has been home to the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival since 2023. To date, Baseball5, Badminton, Basketball 3x3, and Handball have all been involved alongside Taekwondo. There are commitments from the international federations of Weightlifting and Rowing to donate equipment to the refugee camps.
“At the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival this May, I had young refugees coming to me to tell me that they cannot live without sports. This is the power of sport and the sense of hope and purpose it brings to people’s, particularly young people’s, lives,” President Choue added.
New beginnings
In 2026, the THF will commemorate 10 years since its founding with a new vision: rebranding the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival from a Taekwondo initiative to a joint sports enterprise under a united brand.
Dr. Choue: “I think it is time to look at rebranding the THF Hope and Dreams Sports Festival to the SHF Hope and Dreams Sports Festival. ‘SHF’ stands for Sports Humanitarian Foundation and I hope to see the other international federations take a more leading role in promoting their respective sports to the refugees and displaced persons under a unified brand. Harmony brings glory.”
The THF founder also has a special message for the IOC President Thomas Bach and IOC President-elect Kirsty Coventry.
Dr. Choue: “I learned a lot from IOC President Thomas Bach. ‘Changed or be changed’ may be his words but it has also become a maxim for me over the past decade. President Bach was a true champion of promoting Olympism through sport. In IOC President-elect Kirsty Coventry, we have another Olympic and World champion who has Olympism at heart. I hope that Taekwondo and our humanitarian initiatives can continue to thrive in the years to come.”
