page_title: World Taekwondo
section_title: Sparring
hierarchical_section_title: World Taekwondo / Sparring
caption_attribution_description: Protecciones de Taekwondo (WTF): Peto, antebrazos y espinilleras
context_page_description: World Taekwondo, called the World Taekwondo Federation until June 2017, is the international federation governing the sport of taekwondo and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations. The body was renamed in June 2017 to avoid the "negative connotations" of the previously used initials WTF. World Taekwondo was established on May 28, 1973 at its inaugural meeting held at the Kukkiwon with participation of 35 representatives from around the world. There are now 208 member nations. Since 2004, Choue Chung-won has been the president of World Taekwondo, succeeding the first president, Kim Un-yong. On July 17, 1980 the International Olympic Committee recognized World Taekwondo at its 83rd Session in Moscow, Russia. Taekwondo debuted as a demonstration sport of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. On September 4, 1994 Taekwondo was adopted as an official Sport of the 2000 Summer Olympics at the 103rd IOC Session in Paris, France. According to World Taekwondo,
  Taekwondo is one of the most systematic and scientific Korean traditional martial arts, that teaches more than physical fighting skills.
context_section_description: Under World Taekwondo and Olympic rules, sparring is a full-contact event and takes place between two competitors on a matted 8 meter octagon. At the end of three rounds, the athlete with the most points is declared the winner. A tie, however, results in an additional round, known as "Golden Point". If no point is scored during the Golden Point, the player with the most registers on the PSS is declared the winner. If one athlete is knocked out, or is otherwise unable to continue as a result of a legal technique by his opponent, the other athlete is automatically awarded the victory.
  Points are awarded for permitted, accurate, and powerful techniques to the legal scoring areas; light contact does not score any points. Points are awarded as follows:
  1 point for a strike to the chest or when "Gam-jeom" is given to the opponent
  2 points for a standard kick to the chest
  3 points for a standard kick to the head
  4 points for a turning kick to the chest
  5 points for a turning kick to the head
  The competition sparring rules were updated by World Taekwondo General Assembly in November 2016 in order to upgrade the sport so that it "dazzles and excites." Changes include encouraging more offensive actions with modifications to some of the point scoring and by disallowing certain leg blocks, elimination of mid-game interruptions, and improvements that simplify penalty assessment and foster better officiating. These new rules took effect in January 2017.
  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 (called "gam-jeom") at any time for rule-breaking, such as hitting an area not recognized as a target, falling, or stalling the match.
  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 World Taekwondo at the start of 2009. In October 2010 World Taekwondo 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 third round then the match is over and the athlete in the lead is declared the winner.
  World Taekwondo-sanctioned events allow any person, regardless of school affiliation or martial arts style, to compete in World Taekwondo events as long as he or she is a member of World Taekwondo Member National Association in his or her nation. These National Associations are open for anyone to join.
caption: Official World Taekwondo trunk protector (hogu), forearm guards and shin guards
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