Patrik Abrahamsson is the founder and head coach of Eskilstuna Taekwondo Club.

According to him, one of the reasons why taekwondo has been so hard hit may be that the club trains in municipal premises which during the pandemic were closed to most age groups.

Something that on the other hand will also save the whole club.

- When we could not train, we paid no rents.

I think it's worse for those who rent privately, get excluded but still stand with their invoices.

I know some clubs that could not afford to keep their premises anymore, says Patrik Abrahamsson.

"Think beginners will not come back"

Now that taekwondo in Sörmland has lost almost half of its participants, the Eskilstuna Club hopes that many will find their way back.

- Those who have trained for a long time, I think will come back.

But those who were in and tried, maybe only had time to train for a month and did not have time to get a grip on it, I doubt it, says Patrik Abrahamsson.

Undefeated in Sweden - not allowed to train

Sasa Misljenovic has trained with Eskilstuna Taekwondo Club for the past four years.

He has won Swedish Championship gold and is undefeated in the sport in Sweden.

During the past year, he has spent a lot of time watching taekwondo on social media and training on his own.

He and Patrik Abrahamsson have also been outdoors, trained running and been to the outdoor gym.

Despite this, Misljenovic has been strongly affected by the corona year.

Hear him talk about it in the video.

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Sasa Misljenovic has not been able to train and compete as he wanted in 2020. In the clip, he tells how he experienced the year.

Photo: Maria Lapenkova, SVT