TBN Owners off to World Championships - CAIRO!

[Hakim]

Many of you may recall that Ibrahim & Muhammad Chishti, the two owners of Tractorbynet.com, are world level competitors in Taekwondo, the leading martial art sport in the world. Last year, they represented the United States at the World Championships, which were held in Turkey in 2008.

Muhammad has again qualified for a spot on the US Team, and his brother Ibrahim is Team Coach. Muhammad was also honored to be named Captain of the US Team.

They leave tomorrow for the flight to Cairo, Egypt, where the event is held, starting in about four days. I will post up some links and places where you can get updated if you like. We are hoping some of the videos of competition will be put online at some point.

The event from November 30th to December 2nd, 2009, will take place in Cairo Stadium Hall (1), Nasr City, Cairo.

Here is the official web site for the World Championships: 4th WTF Poomsae Championships - Cairo 2009 :: Welcome ::.

Hakim Chishti
TBN Staff (& the Proud Dad of course!)

 

[jinman]

Thanks Hakim! Good luck to Muhammad and his "strategist" Ibrahim. I'll be looking forward to hearing of their success and hoping for video.

 

[Bird]

Glad to hear about it, and certainly wish both of them the best of luck.

 

[MossRoad]

I'd say "break a leg" but in this case, I think I'll just say good luck and best wishes!

 

[RobS]

Luck to all and congrats to the proud parents!

 

[brin]

Taekwondo, What is that a tractor pull competition ? LOL...Just kidding - Best of luck to them both.

 

[ronjhall]

Best of luck to the whole team.

 

[MarkV]

Hakim, thank-you for the information. I was just thinking about last years competition and wondered if there was one this year. Please keep us posted.

Good luck Muhammad!

MarkV

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Good luck to Muhammad and of course, Ibrahim and the rest of the team. Just to let people that don't understand the magnitude of this competition, this is the equivalent of the World Series in Baseball. These guys (and gals) are in better physical condition than most other professional athletes. I do say "other" professional athletes because these martial artists are pros. The time and dedication to compete at this level is mind boggling. Just wish there was also dae ryun competition too. (sparring)

 

[Hakim]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your sentiments. It is a large and highly competitive event. Experienced TKD athletes feel Poomsae (forms) is more difficult than sparring. More precision, better overall suppleness is required. Muhammad has been training essentially for the past solid year, since they came back from Turkey World's. He is up at 6 am, even on weekends, and does an amazing amount of fitness training. They usually get home after 10:30 pm from workouts.

The World Championships are the only event besides the Olympics with this level of participation. The Korean world organization is aiming to add Poomse to the Olympic events in 2012. If not then, the next one.

Muhammad just emailed me that they are now on local time in Cairo, and had their first workout today. I think he competes on Tuesday. They are +10 from Pacific time here. So 6 AM here is 4 PM there.

They work out and teach at Jimmy Kim Taekwondo in Laguna Nigel, CA. Jimmy Kim became a TKD legend when he was the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in Taekwondo. His father is a 9th Dan Grandmaster. Charlotte Craig also works out at Jimmy Kimç—´. She competed in the 2008 Olympics, but did not win anything.

Muhammad said he値l have some pictures to post up today or tomorrow. They also have some video gear with them, and I bothered them to take lots of footage.

Egypt is one of the strongest countries for Taekwondo, as is Korea of course. Turkey and Iran also have huge interest in Taekwondo.

They competed in Turkey last year, and Muhammad got 12th. This year he trained harder and really hopes to bring home some metal! Muhammad was appointed Team Captain this year, and Ibrahim is a Team Coach. Of the 16 or so competitors on the US Team, half are from California.

When President ***** was recently in South Korea he was awarded an honorary Black Belt in Taekwondo. I read that he practiced Taekwondo for several years when he was younger. I don稚 know what belt rank he achieved.

Here is some info from the Korean World Taekwondo Federation, the international governing body for Taekwondo.

å…¸he Cairo event, the fourth edition of the annual Poomsae
Championships, is expected to draw about 600 athletes from a record 59
countries

The three-day event will take place at the 25,000-seat Hall No.
1 at the Cairo Stadium in Nasr City, Cairo. The annual event is
promoted by the World Taekwondo Federation and is organized by the
Egyptian Taekwondo Federation.

To further expand the global taekwondo population, the WTF launched
the World Poomsae Championships in Seoul, Korea in September 2006 to
draw 584 athletes and officials from 57 countries

Athletes will compete for 16 gold medals up for grabs at the Cairo
World Poomsae Championships.

-- Hakim
TBN Staff