The national Taekwondo teams on Monday began rigorous preparations at Amahoro indoor stadium ahead of the fourth edition of Gorilla International Open and the second edition of Africa Para-Taekwondo Open that will be hosted in Kigali in March and April.

The two international competitions will be held simultaneously from March 31 until April 2 at Amahoro indoor stadium and according to Rwanda Taekwondo Federation officials, over 600 players from all corners of the world are expected to grace the annual events.

Rwanda will field three teams. The junior team and senior team in the men and women categories, respectively, will compete in the Gorilla International open while the other that will be fully comprised of physically disabled martial artists will compete in the Africa Para-Taekwondo Open.

The three-teams have begun non-residential training camp under the close guidance of the national team head coach Allan Irene Bagire who revealed that the early preps are aimed at getting competent players that will win the country medals.

"We have been training since January 3, but starting this week, we shall intensify our training where we shall be doing two sessions daily until the day of the events and all teams are training together,” said Bagire

According to Bagire the junior team will be comprised of 20 players (10 male and 10 female) while the seniors will be composed of 16 players (8 male and 8 female) while the Para-Taekwondo team will be comprised of 30 players (15 male and 15 female).

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