Ethiopia strengthens its position on the ITF Taekwon-Do map: international instructors course in Addis Ababa brought together 12 countries
At the beginning of August, Addis Ababa became one of the centers of international ITF Taekwon-Do, hosting the 194th International Instructors Course (IIC). The program was held from July 31 to August 2, 2026, and the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) described the event as a historic milestone for the development of the discipline in Ethiopia and more broadly across the African continent. According to the ITF's official announcement, representatives of 12 countries took part in the course: Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Canada, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda and Zanzibar. Such a composition gave the gathering a distinctly international character, with a large share of African delegations but also participants from Europe and North America. The ITF presented this year's edition as record-breaking in terms of international representation among events of this kind held in Ethiopia, giving Addis Ababa additional visibility within the organization's global network.
It is important, however, to clarify exactly what that record means. The ITF's own archive shows that the 152nd International Instructors Course in Addis Ababa in 2022 also listed 12 participating countries, so the current claim of a record should be understood as the organization's official assessment of the reach and international character of this year's gathering, rather than as proof that the number of countries was unprecedented in absolute terms. Neither the ITF nor other available sources have published a detailed methodology according to which the record was determined. What is beyond doubt is that the 2026 event brought together a broad cross-section of African national organizations and international experts, with a program focused on technical harmonization, instructor education and connecting countries developing ITF Taekwon-Do. In that sense, the value of the course extends beyond the mere statistic of the number of flags in the hall.
Technical program led by members of the ITF's expert committee
The main part of the three-day program was led by Grand Master Pierre Laquerre of Canada and Master Virginia Dionisi of Belgium, both members of the ITF's Technical & Instruction Committee. According to the committee's official description, its task is to maintain consistency and high quality in teaching and refereeing standards within the organization, which is why international instructors courses play an important role in passing a common technical methodology on to national associations and instructors. Laquerre and Dionisi were assisted in Addis Ababa by Master Niklas Enander, a member of the ITF Board and head of the Africa Development Team, and Master Peter Szász. Additional pattern-review sessions were led by Enander and Sabum Dagim, whom the ITF also lists as a member of the Africa Development Team. In this way, the program combined the ITF's central technical structure with people directly involved in developing the organization on the continent.
The course content covered several key elements of ITF Taekwon-Do. Dionisi worked in detail on patterns and step sparring, meaning structured forms of combat exercises performed in predetermined steps, while Laquerre led work on patterns, sparring methodology, self-defense and kicking techniques. The program also included dynamic Tabata training sessions, linking the technical content with more intensive conditioning work. Such a combination is important for instructors courses because participants receive not only demonstrations of individual techniques, but also guidance on how they should explain them, practice them and integrate them into a training system. For national organizations that are still building a broad base of licensed instructors, access to international lecturers and shared standards can have a long-term effect on the quality of work in clubs.
The ITF credited the organization of the event to Tamrat Feyessa and the management of the Ethiopian Taekwon-Do organization, emphasizing that the logistics and technical conditions enabled the full program to be carried out. This organizational dimension is particularly important in the context of the African development of the sport, where international courses serve not only athletes at the highest level but also instructors who will later pass their knowledge on in local communities. Holding the gathering in an African capital reduces some of the travel and financial barriers for participants from neighboring and regional countries, although the cost of international travel remains a significant challenge. At the same time, the presence of instructors from other continents helps maintain a direct connection with the ITF's global technical structures.
Institutional support gave the event broader significance
The event was not confined to the sports hall. According to the ITF announcement, Ethiopian State Minister of Culture and Sport Abeba Amare attended both the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. The ITF interpreted her presence as a sign of recognition and support from Ethiopian institutions for the development of Taekwon-Do. In a country whose international sporting identity has traditionally been strongly associated with athletics, especially middle- and long-distance running, events of this kind demonstrate efforts by sports organizations to create more space for other disciplines as well. Institutional visibility can be important for access to sports halls, educational programs, local partnerships and media promotion, although the mere presence of government officials does not automatically mean new financial or regulatory support. The available announcements do not state that a special government funding program was announced at the ceremonies.
The arrival of Master Wogayehu Behailu carried particular symbolic weight. The ITF presents him as the first African ITF Master, and the organization's official archive records that it was in Addis Ababa in April 2022 that he passed the examination for 7th dan after more than 35 years of practicing Taekwon-Do. At the time, that event was presented as the first case in which a candidate from Africa within that organization had reached a master title at that level. His presence at the 194th IIC therefore linked current development with earlier stages in the building of the Ethiopian and African ITF community. For younger instructors and competitors, such examples also have practical importance because they show that advancement toward the highest technical grades does not have to be tied exclusively to the organization's traditionally strong European or American centers.
The ITF also states that the event received television coverage in Ethiopia, presenting Taekwon-Do to audiences beyond the circle of clubs and seminar participants. Broader media presence can be particularly important for sports competing for attention with more dominant disciplines and whose membership growth is based on local schools, clubs and instructor networks. In this sense, the international course serves two audiences: the professional audience, which follows technical content and licensing, and the wider public, for whom the event demonstrates that the country can host international sports gatherings. For Addis Ababa, this fits into a series of ITF activities that have taken place in the city over the past decade.
Addis Ababa has played an important role in the African ITF network for years
The current IIC is not an isolated event. The ITF archive shows that Addis Ababa hosted the 107th International Instructors Course as early as November 2015, with 375 participants according to the announcement at the time, as well as the first African continental meeting connected with ITF activities. In April 2022, after a four-year break in major events because of pandemic restrictions and security circumstances in the country, the Ethiopian capital hosted the 152nd IIC with 312 registered participants. That week also included an adapted Taekwon-Do program and examinations for higher grades, including Behailu's examination for 7th dan. The continuity of such gatherings shows that Ethiopia has for some time functioned as one of the logistical and organizational centers of ITF activities in Africa.
That role was further strengthened in 2025, when Addis Ababa hosted the third African ITF Taekwon-Do Championships from August 15 to 17. In its official report on that period, the ITF also mentioned meetings between the organization's President Grand Master Paul Weiler and Master Niklas Enander with Ethiopian government representatives, the African Taekwon-Do Federation and the Ethiopian organization. This shows that development is pursued not only through competitions but also through meetings on governance, relations between national associations, technical education and long-term membership expansion. In July 2026, immediately before the event in Ethiopia, Enander led technical seminars and grading examinations in Uganda and Rwanda, further demonstrating the regional nature of the Africa Development Team's work.
According to the ITF's current website, the Africa Development Team is led by Enander and includes other members from several countries. The organization itself uses this team as a mechanism for connecting areas where instructor structures, national organizations and international cooperation need to be strengthened. This approach becomes particularly evident when educational events are linked with concrete material assistance. At the end of the course in Addis Ababa, Enander, according to the ITF, coordinated the distribution of donated doboks and sparring equipment intended to support practitioners and organizations in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. For clubs with limited resources, equipment can be just as important a development element as professional education because it enables safer and more regular training.
Meeting of African leaders focused on cooperation after the course
One of the most important parts of the gathering took place after the technical program had concluded. The ITF Africa Development Team organized a meeting with African leaders to discuss future cooperation and ways of strengthening connections among national structures. The official announcement does not provide a detailed list of decisions, deadlines or formal agreements adopted, so it is not possible to conclude whether specific new policies were approved at the meeting. Nevertheless, the very fact that such a meeting was held alongside the IIC shows that the organization also uses educational events as a venue for coordinating development plans. This is particularly practical on a continent where great geographical distances, travel costs and varying levels of institutional development can make regular face-to-face meetings difficult.
South African federation president Sabum Justin Glanville, whose statement was reported by the ITF, praised the quality of instruction, organization, hospitality and atmosphere and emphasized the international character of the Taekwon-Do community. His message particularly highlighted the idea of strengthening ties among African communities through future joint activities. Such statements do not represent a formal decision of the federations, but they illustrate one of the goals of the event: to create contacts that can lead to more frequent seminars, exchanges of instructors and more coordinated action by national organizations. In sports whose growth depends on a network of clubs and instructors, continuity of personal and institutional relationships is often just as important as the result of an individual competition.
For Ethiopia, an additional value is that the international gathering was not reduced to the role of host. Ethiopian instructors and officials were part of the organization, local representatives took part in technical sessions, and the country simultaneously served as the venue for discussions about continental strategy. In this way, Addis Ababa is positioning itself as a place where the local sporting base, African development structures and the global leadership of the ITF meet. Such a model may also be important for other African countries that want to move from occasional seminars to a more stable cycle of education, competitions and international networking.
Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup in Benidorm
The gathering in Addis Ababa was held less than two months before the start of the 2026 ITF World Cup in Benidorm, Spain, so the African development program is taking place during a period of intensified international activity. According to the official ITF calendar, the entire event in Benidorm runs from September 28 to October 4, 2026, while the official competition days are September 29 to October 3. The ITF Adapted World Cup is also scheduled for September 30. At the end of July, the organizers held international information meetings for athletes, coaches, referees, clubs and national organizations, and the ITF announced that the deadline for registration and payment is August 27. This means that for many clubs, the period following the IIC in Ethiopia is also the final phase of preparation and administration for one of the year's largest ITF competitions.
The independent sports portal Inside the Games reported on August 10 that more than 1,600 athletes from more than 45 countries were preparing for the World Cup, with more than 3,250 registrations across various categories and roles. Since registration, according to official ITF information, remains open until August 27, these figures should be viewed as the situation before the close of entries rather than as a final list of participants. The official ITF website confirms that the competition will be held at the Palau L'Illa de Benidorm complex and that it is being organized by España ITF Taekwon-Do under the supervision of Master Paco Ferrando. In that global context, the course in Addis Ababa does not have the same competitive function as the World Cup, but it may have a longer-term developmental effect because it is focused on the people who conduct training and build clubs.
That is precisely where the broader significance of the 194th IIC for Africa lies. Major international competitions attract attention through medals, results and the number of athletes, while instructors courses work on the less visible part of the sporting system: teaching standards, coaches' knowledge, quality of technical execution, training safety and the network of people who will work with new generations for years. If such events continue to be held regularly in different parts of the continent and are accompanied by equipment exchanges, education and coordination among national organizations, their impact may be considerably greater than that of a three-day program. Addis Ababa this summer offered exactly that combination of technical work, institutional presence and continental networking.
Sources:
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - official report on the 194th IIC in Ethiopia, participants, program, institutional guests and the meeting of African leaders (link)
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - official page for the IIC Ethiopia 2026 event with dates and course leaders (link)
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - composition and role of the Technical & Instruction Committee (link)
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - composition of the Africa Development Team and the role of Master Niklas Enander (link)
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - archival report on the 152nd IIC in Addis Ababa in 2022, 12 participating countries and Wogayehu Behailu's master examination (link)
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - report on ITF activities and the African Championships in Addis Ababa in 2025 (link)
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - official information on the 2026 World Cup in Benidorm, dates, registration and program (link)
- International Taekwon-Do Federation - official page for the 2026 World Cup with venue and competition dates (link)
- Inside the Games - independent report on the Ethiopian IIC and the current context of the World Cup in Benidorm (link)