Taekwondo 태권도Taekwondo Preschool

In some schools, permission to begin sparring is granted upon entry. The rationale for this decision is that students must learn how to deal with a fast, powerful, and determined attacker. In other schools, students may be required to wait a few months, for safety reasons, because they must first build the skills they would ideally employ in their sparring practice. View Taekwondo Sparring »

World Taekwondo (WT) Sparring ( 겨루기 gyeorugi )

World Taekwondo (WT) Sparring

( 겨루기 gyeorugi )

Sparring is a form of training common to many combat sports. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially relatively 'free-form' fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to make injuries unlikely.

Under World Taekwondo (WT) and Olympic rules, sparring is a full-contact event and takes place between two competitors in an area measuring 8 meters square. A win can occur by points, or if one competitor is unable to continue (knockout) the other competitor wins. Each match consists of three semi-continuous rounds of contact, with one minute's rest between rounds. There are two age categories: 14–17 years and 18 years and older.

World Taekwondo (WT) Sparring Competition Area

Points are awarded for permitted, accurate, and powerful techniques to the legal scoring areas; light contact does not score any points. The only techniques allowed are kicks (delivering a strike using an area of the foot below the ankle) and punches (delivering a strike using the closed fist). In most competitions, points are awarded by three corner judges using electronic scoring tallies. Several A-Class tournaments, however, are now trialing electronic scoring equipment contained within competitors' body protectors. This limits corner judges to scoring only attacks to the head. Some believe that the new electronic scoring system will help to reduce controversy concerning judging decisions, but this technology is still not universally accepted.

Beginning in 2009, a kick or punch that makes contact with the opponent's hogu (the body guard that functions as a scoring target) scores one point; if a kick to the hogu involved a technique that includes fully turning the attacking competitor's body, so that the back is fully exposed to the targeted competitor during execution of the technique (spinning kick), an additional point is awarded; a kick to the head scores three points; as of October 2010 an additional point is awarded if a turning kick was used to execute this attack. Punches to the head are not allowed. As of March 2010, no additional points are awarded for knocking down an opponent (beyond the normal points awarded for legal strikes).

The referee can give penalties at any time for rule-breaking, such as hitting an area not recognized as a target, usually the legs or groin ( 샅 sat ). Penalties are divided into Warnings ( 경 고 gyeong-go ) and Deduction Penalty ( 감점 gamjeom ). Two Warnings ( 경 고 gyeong-go ) shall be counted as an addition of one (1) point for the opposing contestant. However, the final odd-numbered Warnings ( 경 고 gyeong-go ) shall not be counted in the grand total.

At the end of three rounds, the competitor with more points wins the match. In the event of a tie at the end of three rounds, a fourth 'sudden death' overtime round, sometimes called 'Golden Point', will be held to determine the winner after a one-minute rest period. In this round the first competitor to score a point wins the match. If there is no score in the additional round the winner shall be decided by superiority as determined by the refereeing officials.

Until 2008, if one competitor gained a 7-point lead over the other, or if one competitor reached a total of 12 points, then that competitor was immediately declared the winner and the match ended. These rules were abolished by the World Taekwondo (WT) at the start of 2009. In October 2010 the World Taekwondo (WT) reintroduced a point gap rule. Under the new rule if a competitor has a 12-point lead at the end of the second round or achieves a 12-point lead at any point in the 3rd round then the match is over and the athlete in the lead is declared the winner.

Depending on the type of tournament and club, competitors may also use fist protectors, foot protectors, instep guards, helmets and mouth guards.

Students may be required to wait a few months, for safety reasons, because they must first build the skills they would ideally employ in their sparring ( 겨루기 gyeorugi ) practice. Many schools value sparring because it forces the student to improvise, to think under pressure, and to keep their emotions under control.

* Please see a certified Master Instructor ( 사범님 sabeomnim ) for training. Proper guidance and instructions are needed to ensure safe training.

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Training Safety Precautions

Usually before the taekwondo class starts, the master ( 사범님 sabeomnim ) instructs the students to jog around the dojang to warmup. Depending on the size of the dojang, several laps are done. Risk of injury can be reduced by completing an effective warm-up consisting of a heart raiser to get your pulse up, followed by sport specific dynamic stretches (stretches whilst moving).

* Please see a certified Master Instructor ( 사범님 sabeomnim ) for training. Proper guidance and instructions are needed to ensure safe training.

2013 World Taekwondo (WT) Championships Finals | Puebla, Mexico

2013 World Taekwondo (WT) Championships Male Finals

City and Host Country: Puebla, Mexico

2013 World Taekwondo (WT) Championships Female Finals

City and Host Country: Puebla, Mexico

2013 World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships | Abidjan, Ivory Coast

2013 World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships

City and Host Country: Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Did you know?

Taekwondo Summer Olympic Games

Taekwondo became a full medal sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and has been a sport in the Olympic games since then. For Olympic competition, there will be a single elimination tournament for each of the weight categories. Repechage competition will occur for the bronze medal contest, while the winner of the tournament will receive the gold medal, and the loser will receive the silver medal. For more information View Taekwondo Summer Olympic Games »

Year	Date	Flag	City	Host Country
2020			Tokyo	Japan
2016	August 5 -August 21		Rio de Janeiro	Brazil
2012	July 27 - August 12		London	United Kingdom
2008	August 8 - August 24		Beijing	China
2004	August 13 - August 29		Athens	Greece
2000	September 15 - October 1		Sydney	Australia

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Taekwondo at the Summer Olympics" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Quiz

Question. What is the korean terminology for Single Knife Hand Outward Block?

The Single Knife Hand Outward Block is an intermediate blocking technique. The hand is kept in a knife hand posture to block ( 막기 makgi ) attacks to the torso. As the front arm sweeps across in an arc from the inside to the outside of the body, the back hand is simultaneously pulled back to the back hip and ready for a counter-attack such as a punch ( 지르기 jireugi ) to the opponent.

Question. What is the korean terminology for Back Stance?

Back stance is specifically focused on shifting weight to the back leg, as it offers much more control, and makes it easier to kick off the front leg. To perform this stance, the body faces to the side, with the front foot facing forward and the front leg bent. The back leg is bent slightly and the foot is turned outwards perpendicular to the front foot making the letter "L" for this stance.

Question. What is the korean terminology for Palm Heel Pressing Block?

Palm Heel Pressing Block is a standard block ( 막기 makgi ) used to deflect incoming kicks ( 차기 chagi ) and punches ( 지르기 jireugi ). Open the hand ( 손 son ) and use the 'bottom of the palm' or ‘palm heel’ to block the trunk area. The open hand is raised up to shoulder height and thrust directly down to meet the attackers hand or limb.

World Taekwondo (WT) Tournament Sparring ( 겨루기 gyeorugi )

Under World Taekwondo (WT) and Olympic rules, sparring is a full-contact event and takes place between two competitors in an area measuring 8 meters square. A win can occur by points, or if one competitor is unable to continue (knockout) the other competitor wins. Each match consists of three semi-continuous rounds of contact, with one minute's rest between rounds. For more information View World Taekwondo (WT) Tournament Sparring ( 겨루기 gyeorugi ) »