Russia was selected to host the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships at a council meeting of the sport’s governing body in Lausanne, Switzerland, Friday.

The World Taekwondo Federation members voted for the Russian city of Chelyabinsk over Brazil and Vietnam for the biennial competition scheduled Sept. 16-23 in 2015.

During the meeting, the council members also made selections for other WTF events. Ivory Coast earned the right to host the World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships in Abidjan in November this year and the U.K. won the right to host the inaugural World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Manchester in December, the WTF said.

Also, Azerbaijan will host the first World Cadet Taekwondo Championships in 2014 in Baku, while Mexico will host the 9th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Queretaro in 2014.

Meanwhile, the WTF council also agreed to pass bylaws on world rankings and Olympic standings procedures.

The WTF council meeting was held at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne for the second time, following its first meeting in 2005.

The IOC voted earlier this year to keep taekwondo as one of the 25 “core sports” in the Summer Olympics program.

“For so long, we have worked to meet the standards of the IOC. As that achievement came within our grasp, we move toward exceeding those standards and setting standards of our own,” said Choue Chung-won, president of the WTF, during the meeting.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)