Trinidad and Tobago's Anthony Ferguson has been elected President of the Commonwealth Taekwondo Union (CTU) to succeed Britain' Adrian Tranter, who has stepped down.
Ferguson's election comes at a vital point for the sport as it continues its campaign to become part of the programme for the Commonwealth Games.
Its inclusion in the 2022 edition of the Games in Durban could be among the topics discussed by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Sports Commission, which begun the first of two days of meetings here today.
Tranter resigned as chief executive of British Taekwondo last October for personal reasons.
Ferguson will now complete the final year of Tranter's term as head of the CTU.
Tom Stammer, the new chief executive of British Taekwondo and an international referee, has also been appointed to serve as the CTU’s new secretary general.
Ferguson, a graduate of Howard University in Washington D.C., is a member of the ruling Council of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and President of the Trinidad and Tobago Taekwondo Association.
Taekwondo has never featured in the Commonwealth Games but is a major target of WTF President Chungwon Choue.
Ferguson is set to seek talks with new CGF President Louise Martin as soon as possible to discuss their bid.
Among the things Ferguson is expected to raise with Martin will be the launch of the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, which Choue believes fits in perfectly with the CGF's core aims.
The Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships are already recognised by the CGF and have been held every two years since they were launched in Brisbane in 2006.
The last edition was held in 2014 and took place in Edinburgh, where the winners included Britain's Olympic champion Jade Jones.
This year's event will be the seventh time they have taken place and are due to be held in Islamabad in Pakistan later this year.
The CTU also made two other appointments.
John Kotsifas, an Australian lawyer who also serves as President of the Oceanic Taekwondo Union, has been appointed chairman of the Constitution Reform Committee and Lim Teong Chin, secretary general of the Singapore Taekwondo Federation, has been appointed to serve as head of the Referee Committee.
Other appointments will follow soon, the CTU promised.
