Thirty seven countries meet to draw the lots for the taekwondo championships at the 16^th Asian Games

Taekwondo Championships officially kicked off at the 16^th Asian Games with the Technical Meeting and the Draw of the Lots for the matches that will be held on November 17^th to 20^th at the Guangdong Gymnasium in Guangzhou, China.

Dr. Dai Soon Lee, ATU President and WTF Vice President, started the meeting with introducing Mr. Zhou Li - WTF appointed Technical Delegate from China - the Competition Supervisory Board (CSB) members, Mr. Cao Tao - Taekwondo competition manager and Mr. Teong Chin Lim (Chairman of the Referee Committee) as the officials who will be overseeing the Taekwondo Championships at the 16^th Asian Games.

He continued by telling the team officials and head of teams that 16^th Asian games, present us with one of the most important challenges we have faced in the past few years and he expects everyone to answer the call and once again demonstrate to the world that Asia, not only has some of the best players in the taekwondo world but also has some of the best team officials and coaches.

ATU President went on by wishing all the teams the best of luck in the next few days and once again reminded the coaches and the heads of the teams of the fact that the most important quality which will make people remember the champions years after their playing days are over is the Sportsmanship and the Fair Play they illustrated on and off the court.

Dr. Dai Soon Lee finished his opening speech by stressing the importance of Transparency and Fair Play and strike a chord with everyone when he mentioned the magnitude of this championship which is held by the Asian Olympic Committee (AOC) for the future of taekwondo in the Olympics since we are considered as the representatives of the taekwondo family and our actions would carry great weight when there is a vote to select the 26 core sports by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2013.

Mr. Zhou Li, WTF Technical delegate, then took the floor and re-touched on the points that the ATU President had made in his opening speech and reemphasized the significance of the 16^th Asian Games for the future of taekwondo.

Afterwards the Chairman of the Referee Committee at the Taekwondo Championships in the 16^th Asian Games, Mr. Teong Chin Lim, started explaining the Competitions Rules & Regulations that will be used in this event.

After going through the competition rules and regulations he also stressed the importance of respecting the rules and the referees' decisions, to show collective responsibility and to remember that a judgment call sometimes may go one way or the other as it does in any sport but that does not mean that the referees are taking sides with any particular team.

Mr. Lim then proceeded to answer the questions that some of the coaches had and finished off with wishing everyone good luck. 

At this point Mr. Cao Tao announced a ten minute break before the start of the Drawing of the Lots.

After the break the Drawing of the Lots was done manually with teams' representatives drawing the balls from a vase to identify their opponents for the upcoming championships.