Sakis Pragalos has been re-elected as ETU President at the organisation's General Assembly ©ETU

Greece’s Sakis Pragalos has been re-elected President of the European Taekwondo Union at the organisation’s General Assembly in Istanbul.

Pragalos was the sole candidate nominated for the position.

Pragalos has served in the role since 1999, with re-election meaning his next four-year term will take him through to 2025.

New ETU statutes adopted this year state that elected officials can serve three consecutive terms in any role before a compulsory break of at least four years.

But terms served before these reforms do not count towards a candidate's limit.

Re-election will see Pragalos continue as a vice-president of World Taekwondo.

Spain’s Jesus Castellanos, Turkey’s Metin Sahin, Russia’s Anatoly Terekov and Italy’s Angelo Cito were elected as ETU vice-presidents.

The four officials were re-elected to their roles after standing unopposed.

The General Assembly also saw Malta Taekwondo Association President Anna Vassallo named as the ETU’s first female vice-president.

Pragalos also appointed Denmark’s Enggaard Kempf, Greece’s Effie Zikouli, Sweden’s Fresia Pérez and Estonia’s Mihhail Kõlvart as Council members.

Bulgaria’s Slavi Binev, The Netherlands’ Fred Buitenhuis and Germany’s Stefan Klawiter were appointed as vice-presidents.

Germany’s Antonio Barbarino was confirmed as the organisation’s secretary general, with Bulgaria’s Alexander Minev named as his deputy.

Luxembourg’s Norbert Welu was confirmed as the ETU treasurer.

Europe was the dominant continent during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ©Getty Images
Europe was the dominant continent during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ©Getty Images

Elections for Council positions were also conducted with Bulgaria’s Andrei Georgiev, Romania’s Constantin Apostol, Albania’s Endrit Hoxha, Croatia’s Franjo Prot, France’s Hassanne Sadok and Portugal’s Jose Luis Sousa among the officials to be successful.

Ukraine’s Lesik Samandhziya, Ireland’s Martin Fleming, Hungary’s Miklos Patakfalvy, Azerbaijan’s Naghi Safarov, Turkey’s Oktay Duymaz, San Marino’s Secondo Bernardi, Serbia’s Sinisa Jasnic and Trond Berg of Norway were also elected.

The ETU General Assembly approved the financial statements for 2019 and 2020, as well as plans for the next Olympic cycle.

This organisation said it will focus on standardisation of the G1 events in Europe, guaranteeing similar event operations across the continent.

It is claimed this will provide athletes and coaches with equal event experiences throughout Europe.

A separate Para taekwondo body is expected to be established in Europe, following a proposal from World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue.

A four-year sport vision, which will be in operation from 2021 to 2024, was approved by ETU members.

The vision will reportedly serve as a guide to ETU decision making.