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December 29,  2010

WTF Newsletter - December Edition

This edition provides you with background information and news on the WTF activties and upcoming taekwondo events 

Power, Speed and Team Spirit Crystallized in a New Exciting 5-member Team Competition 

  

The World Taekwondo Federation successfully introduced a new exciting competition format made up of two five-member teams competing against each other, as part of a trial for professional taekwondo at the 2010 WTF World Taekwondo Tour in Moscow, Russia on December 10, 2010.

"It is so thrilling. I didn't know how the three rounds have gone that fast."
"It was like a video game..."  "I've never seen such a taekwondo match, so fast and spectacular."

The spectators and TV audiences expressed their excitement after watching the new exciting 5-member team competition between Korean and Russian male teams at the Moscow Martial Arts Center.

2010 Moscow Taekwondo tour team competition
The two teams were so very evenly balanced in the pursuit of victory and exchanged attacks and counter-attacks at full speed and power, which made the spectators feel thrilled throughout the competition. The competition ended with the Korean team's victory over the Russians at a score of 50 to 47 in the midst of enthusiastic support from a stadium jam-packed with local Russian fans.
 
In an effort to promote a new breed of taekwondo, the WTF tested this new 5-member team competition format featured with different competition rules on the international stage for the first time and it turned out to be a resounding success.

Each team consisted of five athletes of different weight categories and the three rounds totaled 19 minutes. The first round lasted five minutes in which each athlete should compete for a minute. The second and third round were of 7 minutes each, where an athlete can be replaced with another athlete at any time regardless of the weight categories as long as he has carried out at least three attacks.

This new and innovative rule of "free changes of athletes" sparked excitement among the spectators, reminding them of the tag team match often seen in professional wrestling. It also lessened the pressure on the athletes that they should control their power to ensure being able to going to the last minute, instead allowing them to lash out all their power and high-level techniques at full speed.

Moreover, as the timing for athlete exchange affects a lot on the flow of the match team coach's strategy play an important role as well.

In addition, the scoring system featured with differentiated points given to the level of technique encouraged athletes to attempt to deliver high-caliber techniques. For example, a kick to the head is three points, while a turning-kick to the head gains four points. If an athlete knocks out the opponent, he will gain 10 points.

To build on the momentum and formalize this format in the taekwondo competition structure, a few more test matches will be conducted at international taekwondo competitions in 2011 including the WTF World Taekwondo Championships to be held in Gyeongju, Korea in May and the 6th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Vladivostok, Russia, before official inclusion in the WTF World Cup Team Championships in 2012.


For further information or any inquiry, please contact us at newsletter@wtf.org.                   

 
IOC Solidarity Program for Taekwondo

A cornerstone program involved nurturing taekwondo talents and distributed scholarship to 38 athletes from 28 countries and financed the organization of technical courses for 6 countries as of December 3, 2010.  

Developing young talents requires a lot of efforts at different levels including the athlete, coaches and the national sport structure. All the work for this noble cause should be well structured, coordinated and also financed. It comes as a daunting challenge to many athletes, coaches and countries that suffer from lack of financial and human resources. To empower them to address the challenge, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has provided substantial aid for decades. 
 
For taekwondo Olympic hopefuls, the IOC Olympic Solidarity Program has been implemented in close collaboration with the WTF and relevant NOCs in 2010. Under the umbrella of the Olympic Solidarity Program, the three-pronged sub-programs were conducted.
 

First of all, there is an Olympic Scholarship program. According to this program, 38 athletes from 28 countries received scholarship: 25 of them were male while 13 were female athletes. The breakdown of beneficiaries per continent is as follows: seven (7) from Africa, ten (10) from Asia, nine (9) from Europe, twelve (12) from Pan-American. In addition, one Costa Rican coach also received an Olympic scholarship.

Second, there is program of technical course for coaches, under which a total of six courses were organized in El Salvador, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia. Each course lasted from 5 to 10 days.

The last prong is development of the national sport structure. This development program was implemented in Malawi for two months from April 19 to June 19, 2010.

All these activities were conducted as part of the IOC's 2009-2012 quadrennial Olympic Solidarity Program. 

For further information or any inquiry, please contact us at newsletter@wtf.org


World Taekwondo Federation
Headquarters
4F Joyang Building 113, Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu,  Seoul Korea
Email: wtf@wtf.org , Tel: +82 2 566 25 05

European Office
Avenue de Rhodanie 54, Lausanne, 1007
Email: lausanne@wtf.org, Tel: + 41 21 601 50 13

Referee Information

 

2012 London Olympic Games IR Selection and Training Camp
- Session 1: Baku, Azerbaijan,  January 14 -17, 2011
- Session 2: Guangzhou, China,  March 2 -5, 2011
- Session 3: Mexico City, Mexico, April 7 -10, 2011

For more details, refer to the WTF Web site www.wtf.org)or contact Referee Division referee@wtf.org)


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