The World Martial Arts Masterships is an international martial arts competition that has been held in the North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. A total of 2 masterships have been held, with the 2016 iteration being held in Cheongju, and the 2019 competition being held in Chungju.
ko:세계무예마스터십
The 2019 championships were the second iteration of the masterships and featured 3,119 martial artists from 106 countries competing in 20 different martial arts areas over 275 medals.[5] The motto was "Beyond the Times, Bridge the World".[6]
The opening ceremony for the 2019 competition was held at Chungju Central Sports Stadium on August 30.[7] It had 15,000 attendees and featured a performance from the Republic of Korea Air Force's Black Eagles aerobatic team.[8] In total, 150,556 spectators and 900 volunteers were present during the entire duration of the masterships.[9][10] Turkmenistan finished at first place with 19 medals, followed by South Korea with 17.[11] The cost of the 2019 championships has been estimated to be 15 billion South Korean won.[1] Additionally, an international martial arts film festival featuring 51 different films was also held during the same period.[10]
Aikido and savate were added and kickboxing and kendo were removed from the martial arts program. Pencak silat and ssireum were added to the masterships program.[12][13][14]
