The venue, based in Newton Heath Manchester, has been funded by Sport England and Manchester City Council, both of which have been working closely alongside GB Taekwondo and UK Sport to ensure the transformation will offer its athletes a world class, performance facility.

The National Taekwondo Centre will also play host to grass root level initiatives and will prove to be a beneficial asset to the local community in the lead up to the Rio Olympics and beyond.

Manchester based World Champion, Bianca Walkden, is looking forward to training in the new Centre especially during such a pivotal year for the team.

“It’s exciting because when the new gym is made we can all start training together under one roof.”

“It’ll be one big team, you’ll definitely have that team spirit – from the office staff right through to the coaches, everything we’ve ever wanted or needed as athletes will be there in one place too, it’ll be convenient.”

“If you train with the right people you can achieve anything and I think the National Centre will be a bonus for us during such an important year in the lead up to the Olympics.”

“I believe that champions are made in the gym and come Rio 2016 we will have another champion!”

To view The National Taekwondo Centre’s progress, please click below: