World Taekwondo Grand Prix

Manchester, will host the WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix in October 2014, the World Taekwondo Federation has announced. The decision was taken by the federation at their Executive Council meeting in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei, following a successful bid by GB Taekwondo together with UK Sport and Manchester City Council.

Grand Prix events have also been awarded to the Chinese city of Suzhou and to Astana, Kazakhstan. Mexico will host the season ending Grand Prix Final in Queretaro, in December.

Manchester hosted the inaugural Grand Prix in December 2013, an event which was broadcast live on the BBC and in 97 countries worldwide. The event sees the world’s best athletes come together to compete not just for the Grand Prix title, but also for valuable ranking points in the lead up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Chungwon Choue, World Taekwondo Federation President, said: "We are extremely excited about the WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix”.

“The inaugural event in Manchester last year was a great success and served to highlight the passion and enthusiasm that exists amongst fans to see regular Olympic-standard competition between the world’s best athletes.”