Chuong Pham, who came to the United States with his family 45 years ago from Vietnam, when the political situation in that country was in the middle of war, has built an entire career around Taekwondo, which has been so outstanding that last year led him to be recognized by the White House and the U.S. Government for his contribution of so many years spreading the discipline in that country.
Rick Shin, President of Kombat Taekwondo, explained to MASTKD, why he thought of Chuong Pham when looking for a responsible for such an important area.
I deeply trust him. Throughout the difficult political times of the past few years, he has always stood by me, never wavered in his support, and has consistently supported my decisions for as long as we have been together.
“SOMETIMES HE CAN BE A LITTLE DIFFICULT… BUT I LOVE HIM!”
He has deep knowledge and experience, having managed major Taekwondo tournaments for the Pan American Taekwondo Union for many decades. When we think of who best represents Taekwondo event management expertise in our industry, Master Chuong Pham has no comparison. His reputation goes across our continent, including 45 countries in the Pan American region.
“NO ONE HAS MORE EXPERIENCE IN MANAGING WORLD-CLASS TAEKWONDO EVENTS.”
He has overseen Olympic Qualifications, Pan American Games, Central American Games and South American Games, to name a few. Decades of hands-on event management have given him a deep knowledge of rules, regulations and knows the qualities of the athletes in each region. Truly, Master Pham is among the world’s elite.
When Shin was asked what Chuong Pham’s specific role in Kombat Taekwondo would be, he detailed the following:
‘Master Pham will oversee all aspects of the event, going from the overall preparation and management of the competitions to aspects involving the athletes, coaches, referees, logistics and planning. In addition, he will remain dedicated to perfecting the rules of Kombat Taekwondo.
Given this last statement about the rules, we wanted to dig deeper into the subject and ask how they were made.
Over the past year, Master Pham, in collaboration with a team of referees, coaches and international Taekwondo fighters, has been diligently perfecting the rules of Kombat Taekwondo. We have paid much attention to the feedback from the public in general, athletes, coaches, masters and referees. Their ideas and desires for changes in sport Taekwondo guided our revisions. As a result of this collective input, we have established the Kombat Taekwondo rules.
In closing, we asked him about Chuong Pham’s reaction to receiving the proposal and Rick Shin expressed himself in a humorous and relaxed manner:
During our video chat in which I proposed the position to him, he kept his usual facial expressions. He agreed to take on the position, but only on the condition: that he be provided with good food, to which I replied:
“OF COURSE! I WILL PROVIDE YOU EVERY DAY WITH PLENTY OF HOT AREPAS.”
Kombat Taekwondo will have its prime night on December 03 at the Royal Center in Bogota, Colombia. On that night the fighters will only do one contest and whoever wins will get US$3,000 and consequently the loser of the night will get US$1,000, in the individual modality.
