It was high drama for Iranian athletes at the Wuxi 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series, where the winner was awarded the Olympic licence. 

International Academic Center for Taekwondo (iACT) has recently published two informative books on Taekwondo and martial art studies.  All proceeds from book sales go toward scholarships for students studying Taekwondo.

The President of the International SAMBO Federation, Vasily Shestakov, summed up the 2023 and talked about the New Year in his speech.

The Taekwondo Academy run by the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation in Jordan's Azraq refugee camp passed a major milestone after a grading test on 4 November, when seven Kyu grades were promoted to Dan grades on that day, bringing the number of black belts at the THF Academy to over 100 since 2016.

Sambists from seven countries took part in the Beirut Open Sambo Championship. Medals were awarded in 10 weight categories at the competitions held in the Lebanese capital on 12 December: seven in Sport SAMBO and three in Combat SAMBO among men.

Building on the triumph of the GAMMA World MMA Championships 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, IFSA Vice President Achilles Ralli recently engaged in discussions with Dr. Meechai Inwood, Deputy Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand. The focus of their meeting centred around the future development and recognition of amateur MMA in Thailand.

The International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer summarised the achievements of IJF in 2023.

Para Taekwondo Committee Chairman Usman Dildar believes that 2023 was an exciting year with several groundbreaking moments that showcased the spirit and skills of the amazing athletes.

French sambist Nathalie Cariou represented the International Sambo Federation at the INTERACT+ seminar in Linz, Austria. The event, held on December 7-8, was organized by the International Fistball Association (IFA) under the leadership of the International Association of Sports for All (TAFISA). The seminar aims to encourage athletes, coaches and sports organisations to implement “Sport for All” in various events.

Jean Kfoury, the president of the Australian Taekwondo summed up the 2023 in his final speech of the year.

To mark the 30th anniversary, the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) organised the final annual ceremony - the Great Day of Croatian Sport - with awards for the most successful athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen and coaches of the past year.

The Bolivian national SAMBO championship was held in the department of La Paz. Sportsmen from the departments of Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, El Alto, Sucre, Tarija, Oruro and La Paz took part in the competition which took place from 8-9 December.

• Juan Manuel Lopez, now president of Pan American Taekwondo Union (PATU), together with his team, was the pioneer in the organisation of the Gala Dinner offered in 2014 in Queretaro, together with WT. 10 years later presiding over the ascending Pan-American continental union, he will once again bring the PATU Gala Dinner to Queretaro.

The Tunisian Judo Federation, led by Skander Hachicha, has been recognised for its promotion of international relations. The prize awarded by the Japanese Foreign Minister, was presented to the Tunisian Judo Federation on Tuesday 12 December at the Japanese Embassy in Tunisia.