Tong-Il Moo-Do is making significant strides to making it into the biggest sporting event in the world and, hopefully, the next Olympics will feature it among the events.
For the sport to make it to the Olympics, it needs 50+1 votes of the International Olympic Committee members. Currently, there are 111 members and 38 honorary members in the IOC.
Kenya Tong-Il Moo-Do Federation president Clarence Mwakio said should the sport gain entry into the Olympics, it would put Kenya on the world map.
This is because the Kenya Tong-Il Moo-Do team, Jasiri, has been performing well in the sport, collecting numerous gold medals in international events including the Mombasa Open Tong-Il Moo-Do International Martial Arts Championships over the last 11 years.
In 2019, at the Chungju World Martial Arts Mastership Championships in Korea, Team Jasiri came back home with a total of 12 gold medals. Team Jasiri are the defending champions in the Mombasa Open Tong-Il Moo-Do International Martial Arts Championships, having scooped 191 medals last year including 46 gold, 54 silver and 93 bronze in various categories and age brackets.
“With the previous performances of Team Kenya, we believe by the time Tong-Il Moo-Do Kenya gets into the Olympics, we will add more medals into the Kenyan basket,” he said.
“So we are appealing to the government to fully support our campaign towards getting Tong-Il Moo-Do to the Olympics by assisting us to expand the sport in Africa as the other continents also do their parts,” Mwakio said.
He said once this is done, the final bid to the IOC will stand a greater chance of being accepted, which will be great for Kenya.
The Kenya government has been a key partner for the sport and the federation for the last 11 years, during which they have been the main sponsors for the Mombasa Open Tong-Il Moo-Do International Martial Arts Championships.
This year’s event is set for this weekend at the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa. Mwakio said this year’s event has already attracted nine new countries. Fifty countries were invited for the championships and over 25 have so far confirmed participation, including new entrants Germany, Cyprus, Malaysia, Benin, Samoa, Canada, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Sao Tome and Principe.
The competition, often held in December, was reverted to its original date in August due to what Mwakio termed as the logistical and travel challenges experienced by participants during the festive period at the end of the year.
