World Taekwondo President and Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) Chairman Chungwon Choue today met with leaders of the organizations participating in the largest Hope and Dreams Sports Festival to date in Jordan from April 30 to May 3.
Meetings were held at the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) headquarters in Amman, with President Choue meeting JOC President and IOC Executive Board member HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, International University Sports Federation (FISU) President Leonz Eder, World Baseball Softball Confederation President Riccardo Fraccari and Chief Operating Officer Marco Ienna, and UNHCR representative Claude Marshall, who is also a Board member of the THF.
President Choue was joined by World Taekwondo Council members Driss El-Hilali, Jinbang Yang, Maher Magableh and Shaddad Alamri.
The 3rd Hope and Dreams Sports Festival will feature six sports – Taekwondo, Baseball5, Badminton, Basketball 3×3, and Handball, with Weightlifting equipment donated to the refugee camps.
President Choue pledged that next year’s edition will be even bigger to commemorate the THF’s 10th anniversary, while President Eder offered FISU’s support in encouraging more International Federations to participate.
World Taekwondo and the THF are committed to working with partners from International Federations and other sports organisations to empower refugees and promote the Olympic Values.
HRH Prince Feisal praised the initiatives of the THF aimed at empowering young people living in refugee camps, and highlighted the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival’s role in promoting the transformative power of sport.
All participants agreed on the importance of sport for refugees, particularly young people, and emphasised the benefits of having more sports join the programme for the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival.
President Choue said: “The Hope and Dreams Festival has become a cornerstone event for World Taekwondo and the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation. We are proud to see it grow into a multi-sport platform that continues to inspire refugees and young people around the world«.
“Jordan is a wonderful host for the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival, and we are very grateful for the support of all of our partners in delivering another successful edition this week.”
The Hope and Dreams Sports Festival will begin tomorrow with demonstrations of each sport at the Azraq and Za’atari Refugee Camps, and will run until Saturday (May 3).
Jordan set to host largest ever Hope and Dreams Sports Festival
The 3rd edition of the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival in Jordan from April 30-May 3 is set to be the largest to date, providing refugee athletes with the opportunity to compete across five sports.
Established by World Taekwondo and the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF), the first Hope and Dreams Taekwondo Championships was held in 2022 and only featured Taekwondo before it evolved into the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival. Since the inaugural edition in 2023, hundreds of refugee athletes have taken part and benefited from the power of sport.
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