A Thematic Analysis Investigating the effect of Pandemic Covid-19 and Implementation of MCO Towards Taekwondo Activities and Programs in Malaysia .

Sporting events at international, regional and national levels have either been postponed or canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak across the globe. The sports industry has been heavily impacted and, in many ways, paralyzed by the pandemic. However, sports and recreational premises or facilities can still carry out certain operations limited to management and maintenance only; quarantine-based centralized training programs by the National Sports Council and camp-based training by state sports councils in Malaysia. The goal of this presentation is to answer questions and provide beneficial information to help increase understanding of the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on sports activities. The pandemic has in a way put a certain degree of a halt to sports activities that require body contact or direct physical touch. This is what martial art is all about and most of the activities are restricted during the outbreak due to the nature of the sport itself. This paper reports the results of interviews done with those who are involved directly in the martial art sports of Taekwondo. The combination of deductive and semantic approaches of the Thematic Analysis method is used to analyze explicit opinions expressed in interviews done. The findings showed the responses of what has been anticipated by the researchers based on prior knowledge and the current situation. In addition, the suggestions given by the informants could be considered as the basis of innovative ways and strategies to alleviate the impact of Covid-19. More research could be done in future as part of the contribution to the new knowledge and solution of the everexisting hardship during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]