Arif making steady progress in taekwondo

KARACHI: The government’s working group for orphanages in the country is making good progress as a number of orphans have shown excellence in taekwondo at national and international level.

The government established a working group of prominent civil society organisations in July 2019 to prepare policies for orphanages. Chairman Khubaib Foundation Nadeem has been appointed its Convener.

Khubaib Foundation prepared a strong team of orphans in taekwondo, which has now become the second best taekwondo team in the country.

Arifullah Wazir from North Waziristan is the proud product of this working group. He proved his mettle when he won bronze medal at the 7th Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championship in the UAE in 2019.

“This was Arifullah’s first international competition. So this was quite a memorable performance for him as there were more than 1200 players from 40 countries,” said Syed Salman of Khubaib Foundation while talking to ‘The News’.

He added that Khubaib Foundation is taking care of Arif and helping him pursue his taekwondo career.

Arif’s performance at Fujairah earned him a place in the national team that was to participate in the qualification round for the Tokyo Olympics.

After Fujairah, Arif won bronze medal in Cadet Under-14 category of Turkish Open Taekwondo Tournament in Antalya, Turkey, in 2019.

On the national front, orphan athletes from Khubaib Taekwondo Academy (KTA) have been making the academy proud by winning medals at various events.

KTA athletes won one silver and two bronze medals at National Games in Peshawar in 2019.

Around 60 students of KTA participated in the 14th Korean Ambassador National Taekwondo Championship and grabbed first position, clinching 60 medals.

In April 2019, Khubaib Foundation conducted Annual Black Belt Graduation Ceremony in which 19 orphans were awarded belts.

In September 2019, Inter-Khubaib Taekwondo Championship was organised in which 800 players and officials participated.

In August 2019, girls from Khubaib Girls College Sargodha participated in inter-district taekwondo championship and won 10 gold, 10 silver, and nine bronze medals.

Khubaib Foundation took first position in twin city inter-club taekwondo championship in Islamabad in 2019.