The UK will host the World Taekwondo Championships for the first time in 2019, it has been confirmed.
Manchester is the venue for two years time for the event which began first back in 1973 in Seoul, Korea.
Also, next year, Britain will stage two legs of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix series in London and Manchester as part of a package of measures over four years to help boost interest in the sport in the UK.
Gold has been won by South Korea 20 times in the sport's pinnacle event, in its more than 40-year history.
Four year plan for British Taekwondo
At this year's 2016 Rio Olympics, Team GB achieved three medals in the sport including a Gold medal for Jade Jones, retaining her Taekwondo Olympic crown.
The 23-year-old Welsh woman has GB's only two Golds in the sport since its introduction in 2000.
Jones is also current European champion.
Team GB's Taekwondo also won a Bronze and a Silver medal, to earn three medals in Rio in the summer.
And in another success for GB in the junior category this month, 17-year-old Lauren Williams from Newport retained her WTF Junior World Taekwondo crown in Canada - beating Russia in the 68Kg final 13 - 4.
Steve Flynn, Director of GB Taekwondo, said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to take Taekwondo to the next level."
Said the new Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, whose office were working in collaboration to hep secure the events for the growing sport's development: "I look forward to welcoming Taekwondo fans from around the world to our great city, and I'm confident the Copper Box will put on a show to remember."
Next year, London will host the World Taekwondo Grand Prix and 2018 sees the Grand Prix hosted in Manchester.
What is Taekwondo?
Taekwondo is a martial art from Korea which has an emphasis on kicking (primarily to the head with fast spinning kicks and was incorporated in the 1940s as a variant of Karate and other martial arts.
The oldest governing body for Taekwondo is the Korean Taekwondo Federation, founded in 1959.
