The 5th edition of the National Taekwondo Championship finals are scheduled for this weekend at Amahoro Indoor Stadium, according to the organizers, Rwanda Taekwondo Federation.

Over 300 participants are expected to take part in the two-day competition, which began on Tuesday and Wednesday with the preliminaries.

The event will have both male and female fighters in different weights, age groups and categories including; Kyoga, Poomsae, Board Breaking and Para Taekwondo.

The winners will have an opportunity to undergo further training so that they can represent Rwanda at next year’s continental championships.

According to Rwanda Taekwondo Federation secretary general, Placide Bagabo, 29 local clubs were invited but 15 entered the competition.

He said, "The intention of this championship is to give everyone a level platform to compete, because we want to pick the best so that they can be trained further to represent the country in continental championships but the ultimate objective is to qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”

"The competition also involves the category for the disabled because next year this will be part of our main programmes. The Tokyo games will see the introduction of taekwondo to the Paralympic programme, and with four years ahead, it is better to start early,” Bagabo noted.

Last year, Dream Club from Kicukiro Gatenga was crowned the champion after amassing the most medals in the male category. The same team also won this year’s Ambassador’s Cup held in September

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