PORT ANGELES — The state capital is moving to Port Angeles, at least for the sport and martial art of taekwondo.
Taekwondo’s national headquarters, National Taekwondo Federation in Chicago, selected White Crane Martial Arts of Port Angeles as the center of taekwondo in Washington when it selected Grandmaster Robert Nicholls the new state director last week.
Nicholls, an eighth-degree black belt, operates White Crane Martial Arts school.
Nicholls is one of only a few in the country with such a high rank, and has the best record of any taekwondo black belt in Northwest history for overall competition.
This makes Port Angeles the likely site for the next state championships because the state director makes those decisions, and Nicholls said he wants to bring the games to Port Angeles.
White Crane is hosting a tournament this Saturday with teams from Canada and the North Olympic Peninsula coming to compete in seven types of competition.
Then, in August, the school will host the Korean National junior demonstration team, with 30 black belt youths from the best of the best competition in Seoul.
The team will stay in the area for 10 days, giving demonstrations in Port Angeles and Victoria.
