| Grand Master Mounir Ghrawi was born in Beirut,
Lebanon.
He met GM Jong Soo Park in the Middle East during the Korean Masters tour
in the
Mid 60's. In addition to being a student of General Choi Hong Hi he also
trained under
Master Kwon Jae Hwa, as well as GM Kim Yong Ho in Paris, while living in
Europe.
He was training regularly also under GM Seo Myung Soo who was based in the
Netherlands.
His travels to Seoul in South Korea regularly twice a year. In Seoul
he is a member
of Porame Dojang in Kang Nam which still exists till now, and there he had
learned under
GM Park Hyun Sup. He trained also in Tekkyon under GM Lee Yong Bok, trained
in Kung
Jung Moo Sul under GM Park Man Dong and in Haedong Kumdo under GM Kim Jeong
Seong.
He is a humble, soft-spoken gentleman with a martial arts backround
second-to-none.
In addition to being an 8th Dan in ITF Taekwon-do he also holds an 8th Dan
in Hapkido
(under GM Hwang Duk Kyu, in Seoul), a 7th Dan in Shindo Yoshin Ryu (under
Sensei Michio
Yamanaka) and a 9th Dan in Japanese Jujutsu (under Ryuho Okuyama,in Japan).
He holds 14
'Hiden Makimonos' very rare secret scrolls of various traditional Classical
Japanese Schools of
Bujutsu martial arts.
He was the first person to write a book on Taekwondo in Arabic language,
and to star on 90
TV episodes about Taekwondo. He has Published 15 books on various Martial
Arts.
Named "Pioneer of Taekwon-do in the Middle East" by General Choi Hong Hi
the Father of
Taekwon-do, he was awarded the coveted Instructor "Star of Excellence"
personally
presented to him by General Choi Hong Hi in 1994.
Grand Master Mounir Ghrawi played a principal role in introducing and spreading
Taekwondo
throughout the Middle East primarily in the countries of Saudi Arabia, United
Arab Emirates,
Sultanate of Oman and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In 1987 his student Zeron Saghdejian (llower right) was awarded the first
ITF black belt in
Yerevan the capital city of Armenia. He also introduced ITF Taekwon-do
to the French part
of Belgium in the mid seventies. While living in Belgium he served
as instructor to Belgian
Special forces. Grand Master Mounir Ghrawi is one of the few persons recognized
by major
martial arts organziations non-affiliated with Taekwon-do.
He was recently inducted into the IMAA Hall of Fame headed by Gary Alexander
who himself is
a living legend in North American Karate. On April 6th 2007 Mounir
Ghrawi joined a uniquely
distinguished group of individuals. On that date Taekwon-do pioneers from
all parts of the globe
as well Olympic and world champions gathered in the United States to be inducted
into the Official
Taekwon-do Hall of Fame.
A partial list of the luminaries who were inducted include Great Grandmaster
Nam Tae Hi, Cho
Sang Min, Choi- Keun Chang, Kong Young II, Kong Young-Bo, Kim Bok Man, Jhoon
Rhee,
and legendary Korean National Champion Dong Keun Park. Many considered that
ceremony to
have been themost prestigious Taekwon-do event in modern times. Grand Master
Mounir Ghrawi
was inducted as "Pioneer of Taekwon- Do".
He currently resides in Canada, teaching at the Toronto Police College. He
is also assisting
Taekwon-dopioneer GM Jong Soo Park 9th Dan, Vice President of the
International
Taekwon-do Federation.
He also serves as Technical Advisor to the OFFICIAL TAEKWONDO HALL
OF FAME. |
