The FCT Taekwondo Association is set to revive the declining fortunes of the sport through a talent hunt programme.

It wants to achieve this by organising taekwondo championships, said Mr Benjamin Eneh, the Chairman of the association.

The second FCT kiddies Taekwondo Championship organised by the FCT Taekwondo Black Belt College which took place in Abuja recently, was part of the moves being made by the body to actualise its objective.

Eneh, who made this known to the press on Saturday in Abuja, said that the championship was purely a grassroots initiative to discover budding talents.

“We brought these kids together because our aim is to improve the profile of the sport from the grassroots.

“We want to groom these children right from the scratch, so that in a few years from now we will be churning out potential champions in taekwondo,’’ he said.

Eneh added that apart from physical development of the body, “taekwondo is also capable of aiding the concentration level of kids in their academic work in school.

“It’s a sport that could bring children in harmony with their minds and their body by way of training them to learn how to concentrate.

“And even in their academics, most of them who have not been doing well, stand the chance of improving on their school work by joining the taekwondo club.’’

He said that the key elements of taekwondo were modesty, humility, self-control and perseverance-virtues that he said could build a man into a noble character.

Meanwhile, the Head of Technical FCT Sports Department, Mr Tony Anafulu, said that the purpose of the championship was to discover the best among the children and build them up for the professional phase.

He added that a professional training would be organised for the outstanding talents that were discovered from the programme, to further enhance their capability.

Thirteen schools, including some residents’ association taekwondo clubs in the FCT, featured in the programme.

All registered kids are to be given certificates and medals in the different categories of the discipline.