NEWS FROM
THE
Taekwondo Compet it ion Rul es
Al t ered t o Make Sport ?Dazzl e and
Excit e?
BURNABY, Can ada (Nov. 15, 2016)-New com petition
r ules for taekw ondo kyor ugi w er e pr oposed to and
accepted by the W TF?s 27th Gener al Assem bly, held at
the Delta Hotel Bur naby Confer ence Center. changed to 20-point gaps (to accom m odate the extr a
points for body kicks). How ever , it w as pr oposed that
stoppages on point gaps be pr ohibited in sem i- and final
m atches, if OCs w ish.
Speaking at the W TF Council m eeting the day pr eviously,
W TF Pr esident Chungw on Choue had said that now that
taekw ondo has pr oven that it is ?fair and tr anspar ent,? it
is tim e to upgr ade the spor t so that it ?dazzles and
excites.? It w as pr oposed that the kyong-go (m inus half-point)
penalty be er adicated, leaving only gam -jeom (m inus
one point). This pr oposal is designed to m ake up for the
extr a points for body kicks, and to sim plify penalties.
Ten gam -jeom s w ill r esult in loss by penalty.
Pr oposed changes to W TF Com petition Rules and
Inter pr etations w er e pr esented by W TF Dir ector Gener al
Jin-bang Yang. He explained that ther e had been an
exhaustive consultative pr ocess. In October , som e 30
elite coaches fr om ar ound the w or ld had discussed r ule
changes w ith each other , as w ell as w ith the heads of the
Technical and Developm ent Com m ittee, Coaches
Com m ittee and Refer ee Com m ittee, and w ith the W TF
Council. W ider sanctions w er e pr oposed for var ious fr ont leg
actions, such as leg blocks, kicking the opponent?s kicks,
and below -the-belt cut kicks. These pr oposals ar e
designed to favor attacking tactics and offensive player s.
Yang noted that w hile taekw ondo at the Rio 2016
Olym pic Gam es had been w idely pr aised by the gener al
public, the m edia and the spor ts com m unity, m any
m em ber s of the global taekw ondo fam ily had
com plained. Their com plaints lar gely focused on the
over -use of fr ont-leg kicks and PSS functionality.
He br oke dow n four key issues that the r ule changes
addr ess. Fir stly, taekw ondo needs m or e action, so m ust
encour age offensive player s. Secondly, ther e ar e
cur r ently too m any stoppages, m id-gam e. Thir dly, the
intr oduction of the PSS and IVR have im pr oved
officiating ? but even so, officiating needs to be
im pr oved fur ther. Lastly, taekw ondo needs to be easier
for the gener al public and TV view er s to under stand.
In ter m s of point allocations, an extr a point w as
pr oposed for kicks to the body, fr om one to tw o points.
This, it is hoped, w ill encour age active attacks.
M or eover , m atches ar e cur r ently ended if ther e is a
12-point gap betw een player s; it w as pr oposed this be
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To m ake the gam e m or e continuous, it w as pr oposed
that autom atic penalties be r em oved for pushing ? so
allow ing player s to push and kick, ther eby encour aging
com bination attacks. Those pushed w ill ? if they fall to
the gr ound ? suffer a penalty. (This, it is hoped, w ill
encour age athletic balance). How ever , pushing an
opponent over the boundar y, or pushing an opponent
w hile he/she is kicking, r em ain sanctioned.
It w as pr oposed that the ?golden point? r ound be
r educed fr om tw o m inutes to one.
And to sim plify the gam e, it w as pr oposed that coaches
no longer be allow ed to appeal video r eplays for face
kicks. M or eover , it w as pr oposed that ther e be an
incr ease in video quotas: One quota w ill be given per
coach, per m atch.
All the pr oposals pr esented w er e appr oved by the
Gener al Assem bly.
The new r ules w ill be tentatively applied fr om Januar y
2017; full application w ill becom e effective at the Wor ld
Cham pionships in M uju in June of that year. The new ly
r evised r ules w ill be posted on the W TF w ebsite in due
cour se.