BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ELECTIONS for the embroiled St. Christopher and Nevis Taekwondo Federation (SCNTF) appear to be imminent after it was announced that the association was officially barred by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), the leading international body for the sport.
In a letter from WTF Deputy Secretary General Manseek Choe dated April 9, the international body announced that the SCNTF “is temporarily suspended by the WTF until the time that its membership to the [National Olympic Committee] has been restored.”
“This means that the St. Kitts & Nevis Taekwondo Federation cannot take part in any WTF sanctioned and/or promoted events, including the WTF General Assembly,” the missive goes on to state.
The local association has been in executive turmoil since late 2006 when an interim body led by Andy Otto was appointed by the NOC. That body was reportedly approved by the association membership to be in place for a brief period until proper elections could be held.
“However, no legitimate election has been held to date and St. Kitts & Nevis Taekwondo Federation as a member of the NOC is in abeyance on account of its inactivity and lack of adherence to the principles of ‘good governance’ and ‘good standing,’” the WTF letter continues.
The news came as a shock to Masters Lincoln and Lyndon David, who run the United Taekwondo Club in St. Kitts and have been leading the SCNTF for the past two years. The brothers David were purportedly recognized by the Caribbean Taekwondo Federation and the WTF over the past two years and had been able to send athletes to competitions overseen by those bodies.
However, the local NOC continued to recognize Otto and his team as the official guardians of taekwondo in St. Kitts-Nevis for the nearly four years since they were appointed as the interim executive.
“Andy Otto is the legitimate person put in place, but the time has passed that they should have had elections. However, that’s not a reason to just go and give it to somebody else,” NOC President Alphonso Bridgewater told SKNVibes in a previous interview.
Choe referred to the current state of the Federation’s taekwondo as “worrisome” and said that the WTF hopes for a “swift resolution on this matter and that legitimate elections can be held as soon as possible”.
SKNVibes spoke to Gregg Herbert, who had been functioning as the Public Relations Officer of the SCNTF under the Davids, and he informed that processes were already being put in place by Lyndon David to hold elections “hopefully before June”.
“People are frustrated, but we are trying to tell them that it is for the best. It probably wouldn't have had to come to this if people had come to the meeting in the first place,” Herbert said.
He also noted his disappointment that being barred from WTF competitions has the potential to prevent the Federation from sending athletes to this year’s Central American and Caribbean Games, which are scheduled to be held from July 17 to August 1.
Though the difficulties at the executive level of the sport have been highly talked about in recent months, Lincoln David sent a message of reassurance to the many young persons in St. Kitts who practice the sport.
“What I would like to say is that the parents and the students have nothing to worry about. This is not saying that they cannot practice taekwondo. If you are really not interested in the Olympics and such, it doesn’t even really concern you.
“But if you want to be an athlete and be the best in the world, then it concerns you,” he stated.
Ultimately, David said that he expects the SCNTF to be improved after the long standing impasse is settled, even though it has been a source of frustration for him personally as he has tried to advance the sport.
“This is not the first and probably will not be the last issue, but at the same time I do not want people to look at us in a bad way. It is a process of development and as far as I’m concerned something like this is good because it lets us learn from certain things,” he told SKNVibes.
