The National Taekwondo Center (NTC) inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex last Thursday will be not just a new facility for the Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA), but an opportunity for national athletes to sharpen their craft.

PTA president Rafael Alulan said the 1,000-square-meter, 900-seater facility will provide them with a lot of space to train and prepare for major international competitions like the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and the Olympics.

It will rise on the site of the old bowling alley inside the historic complex and will be done by December.

“After 20 years, our dream to have a new training center will soon be a reality — it’s an epic moment for the PTA,” Alunan, a former Interior and Local Government and Tourism secretary, said during the groundbreaking ceremony last Thursday.

“It will give us more space to train potential champions. This facility will provide us space for 100 athletes training at the same time.”

Alunan said he hopes to see more champions now that Filipino jins will have a bigger space to practice on for world-class competitions.

“This center once produced our world champions in bowling like Bong Coo, Paeng Nepomuceno, Arianne Cerdena… This time, I assure you more world champions in Taekwondo will emerge from the NTC,” Alunan added.

“We will faithfully continue the tradition of producing world champions.”

Also present during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement were Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio, PSC commissioners Olivia “Bong” Coo and Walter Torres, PTA founder Grand Master Hong Sung Chon, PTA secretary general Rocky Samson and PTA director Stephen Fernandez.

Gregorio said the NTC will not just be used for taekwondo, but will also host other competitions as well if needed.

“That, of course, is not for Philippine taekwondo alone, but if there are international competitions that other combat sports want to do, they can always borrow it from us,” Gregorio said. “That’s how sports are.”

With the new facility completed before the year ends, Filipino jins can fully focus on preparing for major competitions next year like the 34th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia as well as qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

SEA Games gold medalist and 2024 junior world champion Tachiana Mangin said she couldn’t wait to train at the NTC.

“I am thankful because we were given this blessing that inspires us to train harder,” Mangin said.

“We are motivated to do our best in training to win more gold medals in international competitions.”