Martial Arts

Antonio Espinós has been rewarded for steering karate onto the programme for the Olympic Games by securing a new six-year term to serve as the president of the sport’s global governing body.

GB Taekwondo has launched bids to host the World Taekwondo Championships in 2019 and World Grand Prix tournaments in 2017 and 2018.

The International Sambo Federation (FIAS) has filed an application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for acceptance onto the sports programme for the summer Olympic Games, with Russian President Vladimir Putin backing the project.

Yao Capital, a private equity firm founded by former basketball star Yao Ming, has acquired a significant stake in Glory Sports International, which operates the Glory kickboxing series.

Baku and Tokyo have been selected to host the World Judo Championships in 2018 and 2019, respectively, while North Korea has been confirmed as the host of next year’s Junior World Championships.

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has cancelled its inaugural World Beach Championships, which were scheduled to take place next month, due to financial difficulties at the local organising committee.

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has unveiled a new bidding process for all its events between 2017 and 2021 as it seeks to increase dialogue and collaboration with potential hosts.

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has announced that the Indonesian island of Bali will host its first-ever World Beach Championships later this year.

International Judo Federation (IJF) president Marius Vizer has said six cities are in contention to stage its 2018 and 2019 World Championships, and has maintained North Korea remains a “genuine contender” to host the 2017 Junior World Championships.

The possibility of North Korea hosting its first international sports event in almost four decades remains open after International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer spoke positively of the nation’s bid to stage the 2017 Junior World Judo Championships.

The World Taekwondo Federation has awarded hosting rights for the 2016 World Junior Taekwondo Championships to Burnaby in Canada, while the governing body’s administrative council has approved its strategic roadmap for next year.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts organisation has named James Elliott as its new vice-president and general manager in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

Rio and PyeongChang have recently shown that repeat bidding is one of the most successful ways of gaining Olympic favour, Can karate use the same tactic as their passport to Tokyo?

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), the sport’s global governing body, has undertaken a wide-ranging organisational and personnel reshuffle in an effort to improve the way it administrates the sport in regions around the world.

SportAccord has suffered a fresh blow with the Peruvian Olympic Committee (COP) withdrawing its hosting rights to the 2017 World Combat Games in the wake of the fallout created by president Marius Vizer’s controversial comments about the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

SportAccord, the umbrella organisation for international sports organisations and federations, has defiantly predicted the 2017 World Combat Games in Lima, Peru will be “the biggest edition yet” despite a number of damaging splits with some of the event’s flagship sports.