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Kukkiwon, also known as World Taekwondo Headquarters, and home of the World Taekwondo Academy, has awarded former U.S. President Donald Trump a 9th Dan Black belt - the highest level attainable by professional martial artists. The president of Kukkiwon, Lee Dong-seop, went to visit Trump at his home in Mar-a-lago in Palm Beach, Florida this weekend to give him a taekwondo and the coveted black belt. 'I heard that the Donald Trump is highly interested in taekwondo,' Lee said....

A 17-year-old girl from Zimbabwe is using martial arts to combat child marriage by teaching self-defense to young women. Now that’s what heroes do! Natsiraishe Maritsa founded the Vulnerable Underaged People’s Auditorium initiative and in that program, they use martial arts, such as Taekwondo to fight child marriage. The initiative is taking place in her small community, which is located in Harare, just near the capital of Zimbabwe. Maritsa started to practice Taekwondo since she was just 5 years old and she used her talents to help other women in her community. Since 2016, she utilized her love of the...

Concern mounted Thursday in Iran over the fate of the Islamic republic’s only woman to have won an Olympic medal, who is believed to want to settle in The Netherlands. Kimia Alizadeh clinched a taekwondo bronze medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016, drawing praise from her compatriots including the country’s President Hassan Rouhani and even conservatives in the Islamic Republic. In keeping with Iran’s strict Muslim custom, Alizadeh, then 18, competed wearing a head scarf over her taekwondo uniform and protective gear. There were high hopes she would compete at the Tokyo Olympics later this year and bring home...

The number of Germans who have acquired weapons permits has risen considerably over the past two years. Having the requisite documentation allows people in the country to carry things like non-lethal gas pistols in public. In January 2016, just under 301,000 people had such a permit; in December 2017 there were over 557,000. Weapons retailers say that defensive blinding flashlights, stun guns and gas spray are selling so well they are having trouble keeping shelves stocked. Self-defense courses are also increasingly popular. Classes at Taekwondo clubs, fitness studios, and even municipal community centers are attracting more and more participants. A...

While not every airplane flight can have a federal air marshal on it, it may be possible that every flight could come equipped to disable potential air bombers like 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Detroit-bound Christmas Day bomber who has been indicted on six criminal counts including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people. According to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA(AFA-CWA), alert flight attendants were able to thwart Abdulmutallab’s terrorist intentions. This week another flight attendant was able to use her highly trained skills and alertness to disable a possible mid-air threat from...

Lo Wung, 42, taught the monkeys so they could entertain crowds outside a shopping centre in Nshi, in eastern China's Hubei province. But the money-spinning primates turned the tables on their trainer when he slipped during a show, with one quick-thinking monkey flooring him with a kick to the head.

First, Obama gets a Nobel Peace Prize for nothing; now, a tae kwon do black belt after zero kicks November 19, 2009 Even President Obama himself during his just-concluded trip to Asia admitted that he was surprised to receive the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year without actually producing any peace. In fact, the rookie American president ordered his own troop surge, boosting U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan to 68,000. Now, the Democrat may be preparing to send more. And a Gallup Poll showed 61% of Americans didn't think he deserved the prize either. Anyway, there he was in Seoul,...

He's already known for his moves on the basketball court and the dance floor. But Barack Obama is not letting the world forget about the other moves he has in his arsenal. Taking advantage of a trip to South Korea today, he showed off his tae kwon do skills to President Lee Myung-bak. Mr Obama struck his pose after his South Korean counterpart gave him a tae kwon do uniform and black belt as a gift during their summit talks. The president is known to have studied the martial art for four years from 2001, when he was a junior...

Today, some thugs tried to attack my girlfriend on the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Metro Transit Route 5, all because we asked them to turn down their loud and disruptive music. They refused and they tried to attack my girlfriend. They quickly found out the hard way that I'm a black belt in Taekwondo. :) They got a few shots on me to my head and I had to go to the hospital to get checked, but I feel better now. I took the night off of school tonight, but I can make up the lab later on. Oh, and they weren't...

The United States military said Sunday that American and Iraqi troops had arrested a suspect in the murders of at least 13 members of the Iraqi national tae kwon do team in 2006, in a possible resolution of a case that was among the more vexing crimes at the height of Iraq’s sectarian warfare. The team and its coaches were traveling from Baghdad to Jordan in May 2006 to attend a training camp and try to get visas to the United States for a tournament in Las Vegas. All 15 people, and the two sport utility vehicles they were in,...

Cuban athlete banned for life after kicking taekwondo referee BEIJING (AP) -- A Cuban taekwondo athlete and his coach were banned for life after Angel Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification. Cuban coach Leudis Gonzalez offered no apology for Matos' actions during the men's over-80 kg (176 pounds) match. Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov. He was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one...

With taekwondo already rumored to be on the brink of Olympic elimination, the sport was doing everything it could to avoid even the slightest shock of controversy. On Friday, it was struck by lightning. In a chaotic episode that might ultimately prove to be the tipping point to Olympic doom, American two-time defending gold medalist Steven Lopez was eliminated from gold-medal contention on a controversial referee’s decision. Lopez would go on to win bronze in the 80-kilogram weight class, but not until after his team leader, Herb Perez, had filed a protest and then ripped the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)...

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Afghanistan won their first Olympic medal Wednesday, when Rohullah Nikpai defeated world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain to take the bronze in the men's under 58-kilogram taekwondo competition. Flashy kicker Nikpai, who has been practicing the Korean martial art since he was 10, defeated Ramos 4-1 in their bronze medal playoff, outscoring his limping opponent. Nikpai was placed second in the World Taekwondo Federation's world qualifying event in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam last year. The Games medal brings him a $50,000 prize from a mobile phone company in Afghanistan. Mexico's Guillermo Perez won the gold...

The nuns began studying the martial arts as a form of exercise. Several of them workout regularly. Though they would never use the arts to hurt someone, a number of them have become quite good. Sister Mary, who is just over five feet tall, is the most serious.

Armed men rob six in tae kwon do class Richland County deputies are looking for three men who robbed a tae kwon do class. About 8 p.m., the robbers entered the World Tae Kwon Do Center, 7224 Middle St., and pulled out handguns, Sgt. Mack McLendon said. The men took jewelry, cell phones and other personal belongings from six people at the center, he said. The three also took an unknown amount of cash from the business, he said. The men stole two vehicles and fled, McLendon said. One of the cars was described as a tan 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier...

<p>Another Olympic results-fixing scandal could be brewing, with U.S. Olympic officials urging an investigation into allegations that the taekwondo judging at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was manipulated.</p> <p>Chong Woo Lee, a WTF vice president at the time of the 2000 Olympics, said one method he used was to set up the Korean athletes' strongest rivals to "be defeated in a preliminary match by judges'/referees' decision."</p>

Anglers filming trip for TV show end up in spotlight after thwarting apparent suicide attempt. April 25, 2002 Three guys who wouldn't come out of the rain were in White River on Wednesday night, trying to catch one more fish for a TV show. Instead, they caught something more valuable: a despondent man who had jumped into the river and was floating by. "He said he had gotten to the bridge and didn't feel like living anymore," said Eddie Lee Brochin, a professional fishing guide. "He said the only thing he thought about before he jumped was his daughter and...