They call it the Martial Arts Olympics, and it was easy to see why at Friday's opening ceremony more than 2,400 athletes from 106 countries marched to fireworks and music in front of a delighted 10,000 strong crowd. 

The athletes are competing in 20 martial arts at the World Martial Arts Masterships that range from the well-known Wushu and Taekwondo to the more esoteric such as horseback archery. 

The World Martial Arts Masterships competition is being held in Chungju, east of South Korea's capital Seoul. 

Chungju is home to the martial art Taekkyeon as well as the birthplace of Ban Ki-moon, the former United Nation's secretary-general who is now the competition's honorary president.

Moon has been promoting the unifying theme of the event, which is "Beyond the Times, Bridge the World."

"We need to use much more power of sports for sustainable development and also promoting peace, reconciliation and harmony among people around the world," said Moon. 

Moon hopes the games will also shine a bigger spotlight on traditional martial arts. 

"Martial arts have been practiced and trained for many thousands of years, but have been under the shadow of modern games," said Moon. 

The Taekwondo teams for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be determined at the Masterships.   

271 gold medals will be presented during the Masterships in the 20 martial arts categories, such as belt wrestling, Judo, Taekwondo, and horseback archery.

Based in Chungju, the World Martial Arts Masterships Committee aims to develop the martial arts competition into a global festival on a similar level to the Olympic Games.

"Martial arts have the spirit and histories and the culture of localities, and therefore it is very important that we do more to promote these martial arts to be practiced and enjoyed by many. That is why this second World Martial Arts Mastership should be much more promoted around the world," said Moon.

The World Martial Arts Masterships run until September 6.