The University of Minho (UMinho) is hosting the Second Universities Taekwondo Championship. The international sports event started with the opening ceremony on December 14, and will conclude the day later. With 40 universities from 16 countries participating, the championship has already achieved success, especially since the event has been moved from initially planned location in Sofia. UMinho is the organiser of this event for the second time, which is a result of fruitful cooperation with the Academic Association of the University of Minho (AAUM), the Academic Federation of University Sports (FADU) under the aegis of the European University Sports Association (EUSA).

The event is attended also by prominent authorities like the Rector of UMinho, Antonio Cunha, the EUSA President Alberto Gualtieri, President of the FADU, Bruno Barracosa, the President of FPTaekwondo Jos Luis Sousa, the administrator of the SASUM, Carlos Silva, president of the AAUM, Lus Rodriguez, among other guests.

This year there are over 150 participants representatives more than 40 universities from north to south in Europe, including: Innsbruck, Leuven, Sofia, Karlovac, Gorica, Zagreb, Nicosia, South Bohemia, Prague, Lyon, Caen, Sorbonne, Saint Etienne, Frankfurt, Hagen, Erlangen- Nuremberg, Munich, Wiesbaden, Minho, Coimbra, Porto, IPPorto, New York, Bucharest, Moscow, Murcia, Vigo, Valencia, Alcala, Madrid, La Coruña, Kosice and Dnipropetrovsk.

At the opening ceremony the EUSA flag has been hoisted, following the march-pass of the athletes and official oath of the athletes. A colourful and interesting entertainment programme followed. In the afternoon, the first competitions have started.

EUSA is represented at the championship by its President Mr Alberto Gualtieri and Chairman of the Medical Commission Mr Haris Pavletic and EUSA technical delegate for EUC Taekwondo 2011 Mr Joaquim Peixoto. The delegation was also received by the Rector of UMinho.

Before the competition started, a draw for the preliminary rounds was made, followed by the technical meeting, at which the representatives of the Organising Committee and EUSA explained the rules and regulations of the event.

More information and photos can be found at the official website of the event www.taekwondo11.sas.uminho.pt