From 7 to 9 November, PalaRescifina will host the Italian Senior Taekwondo and Parataekwondo Championships, a martial art of Korean origin and an Olympic sport since 1988. The program was illustrated today at Palazzo Zanca, in the presence of the Councilor for Sports Policies Massimo Finocchiaro, during a press conference, attended by the regional president of the Italian Taekwondo Federation Piero Cannizzo, the national delegates Giuseppe Sottile and provincial Orazio Cappellano.
“We are pleased to host Taekwondo, one of the most widespread Olympic sports disciplines in the world, with over 80 million practitioners and 214 nations registered in the WT – declared Councilor Finocchiaro, who, at the beginning of his speech, brought the institutional greeting of the Mayor Federico Basile -. Over 300 athletes and around 200 technicians and match officials, coming from all over Italy, will take part, confirming that Messina, for once again, it is the protagonist of important sporting events which also allow for social, economic and cultural growth with the promotion of our increasingly welcoming city and an active part in every event. Our organizational capacity in hosting such important events is recognised, as is the PalaRescifina, a ready and welcoming structure”, concluded Councilor Finocchiaro.
The managers of the Italian Taekwondo Federation Cannizzo, Sottile and Cappellano thanked the municipal administration “for the effective collaboration in the organizational phase”, underlining that “the choice fell on Messina both for the beauty of the city and for the functionality of the PalaRescifina, which will host the event”. The competition will start on Friday 7 November, at 2pm, and will end on Sunday 9th with the awards ceremony scheduled for around 1.30pm. Three days of great entertainment and exciting fights are expected at PalaRescifina, with the 58 kg and 63 kg men’s categories (40 registered athletes) and the 57 kg women’s categories (26 registered athletes) packed with champions who will try to gain accreditation for a place in the national team in view of the new four-year Olympic period.
Introduced to Italy in the 1960s by the brothers Park Sun Jae and Park Young Ghil, Italian Taekwondo boasts a tradition of great champions, from Luigi Doriano, first Olympic medal in 1988, to Domenico D’Alise, silver in Barcelona 1992, up to more recent times with the gold medals won by Carlo Molfetta at the London 2012 Olympics, from Vito Dell’Aquila, gold in Tokyo 2020, and with the bronze medal won in Paris 2024 by the Calabrian Simone Alessio, who had just graduated as vice World Champion in Wuxi, China, where the federal President, Angelo Cito was re-elected to the World Executive Council with one of the highest scores among all the candidates.
The Italian Taekwondo movement is experiencing a moment of great growth on several fronts and in the update of the ranking of the national Federations, FITA (Italian Taekwondo Federation) placed in second place, immediately after the United States, and ahead of France, Great Britain and South Korea. Excellent results for the demonstration team (Demo Team) which, in addition to having obtained excellent international results, qualified in the final of Italia’s Got Talent on 31 October 2025.