Tuesday, November 11, 2008

3rd World Karate Championships Seniors - WUKO - 2009 18 to 21 June, 2009

3rd WUKO - World Karate Championships Seniors - 18 to 21 June, 2009, Odesa, Ukraine.



http://www.wuko-karate.org

The World Union of Karate-do Organizations was orginally founded in 1970. The name of 'WUKO' was abandoned in the early 1990's when WUKO and the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF) were to amalgamate as the World Karate Federation (WKF). The unification did not occur and the WKF was essentially the former WUKO group.
The existing international karate organizations are either pure style federations or multi-style groups which accept only one federation per country. Therefore many federations and associations are left outside of the international karate world.
The World Karate Confederation (WKC) was founded by a small group of karate enthusiasts on 4th May 1996 in Frankfurt/M, Germany.
Originally the WKC offered an important option for such groups in which all the different styles and federations can join a World body and fraternity, without having to compromise their style or size. In order that there are opportunities for all, the WKC accepted more than one federation or association per country.
"The purpose of WKC is to regulate, spread and foster Karate in the world from an educational, cultural and sports point of view by promoting Karate ethics, technical seminars, championships and all that is necessary to encourage the spreading of Karate-Do all over the world and to promote friendly and beneficial relations between its members." (WKC Statutes, Article 1.4)
The WKC grew from strength to strength. More than 1500 karate-ka from around the world attended the Junior World Championships and Children's World Cup in Germany in October 2004.
Sadly, a small faction of the WKC attempted to hijack the organization in April 2005. They held an illegal election and, in their eyes, replaced the legal executive committee. This resulted in the WKC separating into two factions.
At the 5th WKC World Karate Championships, in Fortaleza, Brazil in July 2005, the legal and rightful WKC voted to change their name to the World Union of Karate-do Organizations (WUKO), thus giving new life to the organization abandoned in the nineties.

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