On the morning of August 23, the 2019 National Youth Taekwondo Open kicked off at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center. Nearly 1,000 athletes from more than 10 provinces and cities across the country participated in the competition.

Taekwondo combines combat and self-defense techniques with sport and exercise, characterized by its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques. Taekwondo was developed by a variety of Korean masters during the 1940s and 50s as partial combination of traditional Korean martial arts (such as taekkyeon), Okinawan karate, and other traditions (such as Chinese quanfa). Taekwondo made its debut as a demonstration Olympic sport at the 1988 Seoul Games, and became an official medal sport at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Fan Baicheng, associate consultant of Changzhou Municipal Sports Bureau, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. He said that after years of continuous development, Taekwondo has been recognized and accepted by more and more people in Changzhou, especially the young people. Taekwondo amateurs can be found in various fitness venues and training institutions across the city. He also mentioned that Changzhou has included the youth Taekwondo competition in the annual sports event plan in order to train and discover talents, expand the social impact of Taekwondo and encourage more citizens to participate in sports.