Master Michael Muleta Seminar visit to Nepal and 1st Colour Belt Championships

Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal organized a 2-day sparring /self-defense seminar followed by the 1st color belt open Taekwon-Do Championship between 7-9th Feb 2020.

ITF under General Secretary, Master Michael Muleta, 8th Degree from Australia, led the seminar and was assisted by the organizer, Mr. Laxman Basnet, President of Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal.

Just on 160 people attended Day 1 of the seminar, being a working day in Nepal, which focused on sparring techniques and ITF patterns. The students worked hard for 6 hours, with only a 30-minute lunch break, benefiting from the close attention and detail covered by Master Muleta.

On Day 2 the seminar focused on self-defense for almost 200 people in attendance for the whole day. Students were put through many techniques to combat against an assailant, from various grabs, holds, strikes, throws and locks. The seminar was very good and Master Muleta displayed his teaching and class management skills, where he managed to work with every single attendee during the day.

All the students enjoyed the intensive training and learned some new skills and applications from the very popular Senior Master, who was returning to Nepal after coming in 2015 to conduct seminars as part of the Nepal earthquake relief.

We would highly recommend to any country to have Master Muleta come and conduct this seminar.

On Day 3 it was competition time; with around 200 students participating from 23 different districts in the 1st color belt open Taekwon-Do Championship.

The event was a huge success, where Master Muleta kicked off proceedings with the official opening ceremony and remained to observe the championships and engage with all the competitors, special guests, media and officials.

There were 35 different categories in the Individual Sparring and individual pattern events. The standard was very good for colour belts and Master Muleta noted a significant improvement since his 2015 visit, giving full credit to Mr Laxman’s hard work and drive in building ITF Nepal.

Many special guests were in attendance including the Chief Guest, the Honorable Ganesh Prasad Timalsina, Chairman of the National Assembly of Nepal, along with special guest Master Muleta and Arie Hoogandooran from Netherlands. Also in attendance was Guest Honorary Member Nepal Olympic committee and President of the Sports for All commission, Mr.Bishnu Gopal  Shrestha,  Adviser of Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal and Famous Nepal identity,  Ang Temba Sherpa . Turkish Airlines country Manager, Mr. Abdullaha gave out three gift hampers to three gold medalists.

Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal was honored to present Chief Guest to Master Muleta and Mr. Arie with a framed letter of appreciation, for their contribution in promoting Taekwon-Do in Nepal.

President Laxman Basnet gave a Token of Love to our chief guest and other special guests and he informed the audience about what Taekwon-Do ITF Nepal did in the past and what doing in the near future.

Mr Basnet announced that ITF Nepal will be organizing a Technical and Umpire workshop conducted by ITF Vice President Grand Master Nicholls and Master Yogi Chand in conjunction with the 4th Everest Open Taekwon-Do Championship on September 18-20, 2020 in Nepal to promote Taekwon-Do and promote tourism to Nepal during visit Nepal 2020.

Chief Guest and other guests gave speeches to motivate and encourage organizers and participants to make an even more successful event in September 2020.

Master Muleta said Thank you to Mr. Laxman Basnet and his working party on organizing and hosting such a great and memorable event.

Special thanks to Master Muleta in taking time from his hectic schedule in the lead up to the Arnold Classic Taekwon-Do World Championships, to selflessly share his expertise and genuine love for Taekwon-Do ITF to our leaders and members.

Written by: Taekwondo ITF Nepal