Korean martial arts fest to be held in Kolkata in 2008

Kolkata, Nov 14 (UNI) The martial artists from Korea are all set to take the city by storm come this January.

The Taekwondo Association of West Bengal (TAWB) is planning a grand martial arts fest in the city involving participants from South Korea, early next year.

''We are expecting at least 30 delegates from South Korea. They will arrive in the city by January seven and will demonstrate their skills in an open event either at the Netaji Indoor Stadium or at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Complex on January nine.

Taekwondo is the national game of South Korea and you can expect the standard to be really high.

''I think it will be a visual treat for the enthusiasts in the city,'' TAWB general secretary Pradipta Kumar Roy said.

''We are in touch with the South Korean embassy and all the details have already been finalised. Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI) general secretary and secretary general of International Taekwondo Academy (ITA) Jimmy R Jagtiani has taken a very active interest in the whole process and has played a very important role to bring this event to Kolkata,'' he added.

The state association also plans to organise a National Martial Arts Festival on January 10, where all forms of martial arts will be demonstrated.

''People have a lot of misconception about martial arts and it's performers. And unfortunately there are many individuals who are taking advantage of the limited knowledge available to the general public. We hope this event will help to bridge that information gap to a large extent,'' Roy said.

''After two days of fun, we are going to have the National Championship from January 11-14. All the affiliated associations of TFI will participate in the meet and we want to select our team for the Olympic qualifiers from there. At least 1200 participants are expected to take part in the four day long championships,'' he said.

UNI