THE new president of the national taekwondo federation Placide Bagabo has revealed that his office has turned focus to promoting female athletes with disabilities to integrate them into the sport.

Bagabo who was elected this month to replace long-serving David Hakizimana said that the aim is to increase the number of disabled female taekwondo athletes who will represent the nation both at the regional, continental and international competitions.

"We only have one female participant Consolee Rukundo for the national team, which is why we have decided to make the modification to the sport to best serve and give an opportunity to females with disabilities so that they can take center stage,” the former national team captain said.

Bagabo added that taekwondo has no boundaries and doesn’t favour any gender or discriminate against ability, age, religion or sexual orientations. "We believe it should be accessible to all and particularly with the impaired.”

"In Rwanda we have talented disabled athletes able to make a breakthrough at the international level,” Bagabo said before adding that "We understand it is a challenge given other factors but we need to give them a chance since taekwondo is limitless.”

Rukundo won Rwanda’s first gold medal at the World Taekwondo Championship games held in London last year since then she has increased her chances of qualifying for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games if she can rise in the rankings this year.

Taekwondo will be featuring at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

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