A coach with the Lagos State Taekwondo Association, Peace Ogunnowo,  has called for more publicity for taekwondo for the sports to be better appreciated in Nigeria.

She said  that the only way taekwondo could be more valued in Nigeria like other sports is through more publicity that would create the much-needed awareness about it.

Ogunnowo lamented the low number of spectators that witnessed the just-concluded third Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Championship in Abuja.

The  taekwondo championship was held at the Velodrome of the Abuja National Stadium last month.

The championship organised by the Korean Cultural Centre of the Embassy of Korea Republic in Nigeria in conjunction with the Taekwondo Federation of Nigeria (TFN) was sponsored by LG Electronics.

Ogunnowo said “Nigerians are just ignorant about taekwondo” in terms of their level of awareness about the sport.

“Most Nigerians don’t even know what taekwondo entails. It is a combat sport that deals more with the hands and the legs.

“Some people will just tell you that their child cannot go and learn how to fight, and this is not so.

“What they failed to understand is that taekwondo is a survival sport which can be useful to anybody personally,’’ she said.

The coach said only the media could give such needed publicity because it has ways of ensuring people get informed and enlightened.

“Nigerians have to be enlightened on what taekwondo entails, as well as its advantages, and the only way this can be done is through the media,’’ she said.

Ogunnowo, however, thanked the Korean Cultural Centre and its Director, Mr Suh Jeong-sun, as well as the South Korean ambassador, Mr Choi Jong-hyun, for organising the competition.

She said the competition would go a long way to help in developing the game in view of the improvements witnessed in its level of organisation.

“I appreciate the efforts of the Korean Cultural Centre and the Korean Ambassador because this championship has really improved from what we had last year.

“At the second edition last year, they promised that there was going to be an electronic scoreboard this year and we got it.

“Those of us in the sport just pray that more of this competition will come up for taekwondo players.

“This is because if competitions like this did not come up, we cannot know how far our players have gone. We need more competitions to put them to test,’’ the coach said.