Tong Il-Modo, a mixed martial art sport that originated in South Korea, is knocking on the door of the Philippine Olympic Committee.
The sport’s officials in the Philippines believe that its membership with the country’s governing body for Olympic amateur sports will pave the way for more opportunities for Filipino athletes both in the local scene and international stage.
“We have written the POC requesting associate membership and we are now getting more active in completing the required documentation and tournaments that will make us part of the prestigious association,” said Bernardo Villagante, president of World Tong-Il Modo- Philippines.
“This will benefit not just the sport, but a lot of Filipino athletes aspiring to become national athletes,” he added.
TIMD is a comprehensive unified martial arts discipline from South Korea, founded in 1979 by Grandmaster Dr. Joon Ho Seuk. He called it “the way of the unified martial arts.”
It is similar to Russia’s Sambo and Vietnam’s vovinam, although TIMD gives more preference to kicking techniques because of Korea’s long history of association with taekwondo.
Sambo and kickboxing were the most recent combat sports that made it as members of the POC when they were included in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games calendar.
Its yearly World Championship is regularly participated in by at least 16 countries, including, among others, USA, Japan, Thailand, Zambia, Turkey, Iran and Kenya.
In the most recent edition that concluded a week ago in Mombasa, Kenya, the Philippine team brought home 11 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronze medals.
What makes TIMD more significant is that the sport can be used as a stepping stone by combat athletes to excel in other combat events that are played in the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games.
“Since we are not yet being played in the SEA Games, our athletes are joining national tournaments for other sports and they get the chance to become part of the national team,” said Dr. Venus Agustin, the WORLD TIMD executive vice president.
Agustin was among the pioneer students of TIMD when it was introduced to the country in 1984.
“TIMD is a good start for athletes because our accredited schools all over the country are open for free training to poor students,” added Agustin, referring to TIMD’s “Zero to Hero Project ‘’ that started in 2017.