Hammamet, Tunisia – The World Taekwondo General Assembly on 5th of April unanimously approved a series of changes to its Competition Rules as part of its ongoing commitment to ensure taekwondo is as exciting and engaging as possible for its global fan base.
The General Assembly took place in Hammamet, Tunisia ahead of the World Taekwondo Qualification Tournament for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games and the Hammamet 2018 World Taekwondo Junior Championships. The approved rule changes, devised to increase the intensity of the competition and ensure athlete safety, include:
- The valid turning kick to the trunk protector is now four points and valid turning kick to the head is now five points.
- A gamjeom can now be issued if an athlete has one leg outside of the boundary line and referees will now only wait for five seconds before issuing a gamjeom to athletes who are not engaging in the fight. Using an alternative foot technique will also result in a gamjeom.
- A weigh-in for randomly selected athletes will take place two hours before the competition. Athletes must be within 5% of their body weight category to be approved. This new weigh-in will take place in addition to the universal weigh-in the day before the competition and will protect athletes from dangerously losing weight to fit into the category.
- The Golden Point Round has been renamed Golden Round. Athletes are now required to get two points in the Golden Round to win as opposed to one point under the previous rules.
- In the event there is no winner of the Golden Round, the winner will be declared in the order of: who succeeded in making a body punch, who made the most registered hits, the athlete who won the most rounds in the previous three rounds, and the athlete who got less gamjeoms in the four rounds.