Otu Lartey, Taking Taekwondo Higher

President of World Taekwondo Federation Dr Chungwon Choue (L) presenting a certificate to  Frederick  Otu  Lartey during the 2015 WTF Championship in Russia recently. INSET: Lartey

To say Fredrick Otu Lartey, president of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF) has taken the sport a notch higher is under statement.

Having served on the management board of GTF close to a decade till elected president, his exceptional leadership qualities has impacted positively on the federation.

As a result, the international community accorded him a citation during the world taekwondo federation's 40th anniversary in 2013 in Mexico for outstanding contribution to the development of taekwondo.

The senior customs officer of the customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has practiced taekwondo for over three decades and served as an international referee for close to 20years.

Recently, he has put together an eight board committee to ensure the spread of the sport nationwide as well as winning of black belts with little difficulty.

The world taekwondo academy (Kukkiwon), South Korea licensed instructor, has succeeded in creating a website ( www.taekwondo.com ) for the federation for the first time, and changed its logo to look more appealing as well as other administrative changes.

Under his watch, Ghana has won many laurels including a silver medal in the 2015 US open championship, a silver and bronze medals in the Congo Brazzaville all African games,2015, and organized many championship and seminars.

And as part of his efforts to maintain the Federation's high standards, the taekwondo chief, a graduate of the University of Applied Management, Germany (Master of Business Administration), marketing, has sent coaches and technical heads for refresher courses outside the country.

The Larteh Akwapim born avid taekwondo man is married to Mrs Evelyn Out and blessed with two children- Michael  Lartey Otu and Keziah Aku Otu.

By Kofi Owusu Aduonum