The Kenya Tong-IL Moo-Doo (TIMD) Federation has announced a record participation in the 11th edition of the Mombasa Open Tong-IL Moo-Do championships.
Notably, a total of forty-two nations from all over the world are expected to participate in the championships.
Master Clarence Wakio, the Federation Chair, revealed this during a media briefing on Wednesday November 15, at the headquarters in Mombasa.
Furthermore, he noted that the competitions are slated to commence on December 9.
“They’ll run up to December 20, at the Aga Khan Gymnasium with over 400 participants expected to compete in different categories,” noted Mwakio.
The federation chair further noted that they were ready for the competition despite facing financial challenges to host the tournament.
“Last year we faced a huge challenge because we received no support from the government, but despite the hurdle we managed to pull a successful event,” noted the Master.
Furthermore, the martial arts don added that they have a budget of Ksh589 million to fulfill all its budgetary obligations.
The federation is seeking Ksh272 million from the government to support the main event, hosting budget and the national team Jasiri.
Tong-IL Moo Do
Notably, Tong-IL Moo Do is a sport made up of different martial arts techniques, with the Unification Principle being its center stage.
The principle aims to harmonize and systematize the circular movement (soft motion) as the subject and linear movement (hard motion) as the object.
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TIMD can be traced back to the late 70s when Dr. Moon gave instructions to Dr. Seuk to teach it at the Belvedere Training Center and at the Unification Theological Seminary in America.
In addition, he also instructed Seuk to teach self-defense sport to all security guards at East Garden including four “Kyokushin Karate” black-belt holders.
Dr. Moon later visited the gym at Belvedere to see the guards training in Tong Il Moo Do.
This was the official beginning of TIMD fueled by Moon’s calligraphy words of “Advancing bravely forward with discipline.”
TIMD in Kenya
Its growth in Kenya goes back to the early ’90s when two instructors Francis Njiri and Henry Mungai set about establishing clubs across the country.
Additionally, the efforts, which resulted in the registration of about 1000 members, laid the foundation for the growth of TIMD in the country.
World TIMD Federation president Takamitsu Hoshiko has in the past noted its progress in Kenya.
“I have been attending them since 2013 and the sport has grown so much thanks to the efforts of Kenya Tong-Il Moo-Do Federation,” Hoshiko said in 2021.
According to Mwakio, the World TIMD federation has agreed to sponsor part of the budget with Ksh106 million.
Additionally, participating countries are set to cover Ksh105 million of the competition’s budget.
“We spoke with the ministry of sports last year informing them of our intention to host the event this year, we also sent reminders but are yet to get a response.
But we remain hopeful that the ministry is going to respond,” added the Master.
He further lauded the continued working relationship between the federation and the government as he called for fair treatment of all sports federations.
Tong IL Moo Do to be treated equally
Mwakio who is also the president of the Africa TIMD Federation, called for all sports to be treated equally in the country.
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The chair added, “We need to support the said ‘small’ sports to get to the level of the so-called ‘big’ sports.”
Despite team Kenya still owing the federation allowances from last year’s tournament, Mwakio said that they are upbeat and expect to retain the overall title in the competition.
Mwakio further called out the Mombasa County Government for failing to support the competitions in the past ten editions.
“This is a city named tournament that was approved by the world federation after I put in a request.
The aim is to promote the sport and boost sports tourism,” said Mwakio.
In the long term, TIMD Kenya and TIMD global federations remain hopeful in their bid to lobby for the admission of the sport as an Olympic sport.
Additionally, the strategy is to leverage on the growing popularity of the Mombasa Open alongside the World Tong-Il Moo-Do Championships to convince the International Olympic Committee to embrace the discipline.
“For now, the 2024 Paris Olympics might seem a stretch too soon.
However, if all goes according to plan, we hope TIMD will be admitted as an Olympic sport by 2026 or 2028,” Mwakio explained in 2021.
Tong-IL Moo-Doo has been in Kenya for the last 35 years, having presence in twelve counties.
Furthermore, the federation seeks to roll the sport in all forty-seven counties by the end of 2025.
