George Ashiru

Who is George Ashiru?

George Ashiru is a Nigerian Taekwondo master.

He was born to a royal household in the southwestern part of Nigeria. His father became an international diplomat, working in Brussels with the African Caribbean and Pacific Group/EU. His mother was a successful entrepreneur and one time president of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Kaduna. She was a US "Visitor", having participated in the International Visitor Leadership Programme of the US Government. George was educated in Nigeria and Britain and studied in diverse schools like Irwin Academy, Ijebu Ode Grammar School, Nigeria, Federal Government College, Kaduna, Nigeria, University of Lagos and Middlesex University.

Seven times Ashiru was Nigerian Taekwondo champion in the light and welter weight categories and won a silver medal at the 4th All Africa Games in Kenya in 1987. He has been named Best National Player, Best National Referee and then Team Manager to the Beijing 2008 Nigerian Taekwondo Olympic Team. Additionally, he became Africa's first ever 7th Degree Black belt International Master Instructor & International Referee Class A, certified by the International Taekwon-Do Federation, and 7th Degree Taekwondo, issued in Korea through Jidokwan Korea, named "Taekwondo Ambassador" by Taekwondo Jidokwan and is listed in the World Taekwondo Federation Hall of Fame. He is Technical Advisor and Inductee of the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame and a Special Correspondent with the US Taekwondo Times magazine. In 2011 the President of the Kukkiwon awarded him the "Commendation Certificate" for promotion of Taekwondo all over the world. George Ashiru is also an International Referee by the World Taekwondo Federation as well as a Graduate of the Kukkiwon Foreign Masters Training Course, 2012. He was appointed Regular Member of the Kukkiwon 2012 Seoul World Taekwondo Leaders Forum. He is also distinguished as a certified Master of Tang Soo Do by the World Tang Soo Do Association and one of the world's leading exponents of Korean Kempo. In Nigeria, he was at various times, an Executive member of the Nigeria Judo Federation, Chairman, Grading Commission of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, Chairman, Ogun State Taekwondo Association and a member of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Marketing Commission. In December 2012 he was "Outstanding Achievement" Awardee of the Korean Ambassador to Nigeria and was in the same period appointed the Continental Director for Africa by the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame. In May 2013 he was elected the 7th President of the World Taekwondo Federation member national association, the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, for a four year term.