An estimated 20,000 people, including visitors from most U.S. states as well as South Africa, South America, Europe and South Korea, will attend a week of Taekwondo competition and training when the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) hosts its 23rd annual World Expo conference this week (July 8-14) in Little Rock.

The World Championships officially kicked off Tuesday (July 9) with introductions from Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Gretchen Hall, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, Grand Master Soon Ho Lee, Sun C. Lee, chairwoman of the Board of the ATA, and others at the top of the ATA organization.

The week of World Championships will be filled with martial arts seminars, special training sessions, exciting tournament competition and the elaborate World Ceremony. This year’s World Ceremony will be at 7 p.m. Saturday (July 13) at Verizon Arena.

The theme for this year’s World Ceremony is “ATA Strong Worldwide” and will feature international competitors, Masters and martial arts pioneers from all corners of the globe. History will be celebrated through the traditional Master’s Ceremony, honoring and recognizing the life-long journeys of Songahm Masters.

The team competition will feature the top scoring teams from all over the world who competed throughout the year and earned a spot to demonstrate their high-flying stunts and performance martial arts in a quest to be named first in the world.

This year, ATA is introducing a new competition at the World Ceremony- the Worldwide Sparring Competition. Audience members will see the combat sparring with competitors from around the world representing their countries, including Paraguay, Brazil and many more. The 2012 Pan-Am Champion, Team USA, will put their speed and accuracy to the test as they vie for the first ever Worldwide Champion title!

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

For competitors, these championship events mark the culmination of a year of hard work at regional and national ATA tournaments to earn a coveted spot among the Top 10 students in their respective divisions. Students will compete in divisions based on age and belt rank. They will demonstrate their skills in traditional forms, weapons, sparring, creative and ATA-Xtreme open-hand forms and weapons, and combat weapons sparring. These competitions will be held at the Statehouse Convention Center. Top Ten will be held Friday (July 12) and is free to the public.

The ATA was founded in 1969 by Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee. The organization is internationally headquartered in Little Rock and has called the state capital home since 1977. With active membership exceeding 300,000 worldwide, including more than 60,000 Black Belts, ATA is North America’s largest martial arts organization dedicated to the discipline of Taekwondo.

For more information about ATA or the Songahm Taekwondo World Championships, visit ATAonline.com.

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