The World Cup taekwondo team championships was quite an experience being held in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, China. The host organisers went the extra distance and being the perfect hosts looked at every detail in hosting the event proper and including its immaculate hospitality towards the participants from players, to coaches, teams, referees, officials from the teams and the WTF taekwondo family.
The numerous cultures in this part of remote north western part of China were on display at the grand opening ceremony, it was another part of Chinese culture not immediately evident when one visits China, it is something else to behold.
This photo gallery shows some of the experiences including the event opening ceremony which showcased their ethnic dance cultures, matches, referees, and the people and the culture of this Xinjiang province.
Click here to view the photo gallery
This event implemented the latest 2010 competition rules and some newer changes and amendments in particular with regards to the following:
1. Video replay will be limited to the appeals for points scored or not scored by non electronic PSS (protector scoring system) points, ie including the 3 points head shots and the additional turning kick points. The points for or against the punches cannot be appealed.
2. Video replay for penalties are limited to the following:
a. crossing the boundary line
b. grabbing, holding, pushing
c. attacking a fallen opponent
d. attacking after kalyeo
e. misconduct by the player or the coach.
3. For team competitions, the maximum number of video replays is four, while each player per match quota is still one.
4. 3 points are awarded for legal head kicks that touches the head area, even without power as long as it is accurate. This is a change as in an appeal situation, the video replay cannot gauge or measure if there was power in the head kick. This change has made contests more interesting as players can use their tactical skills to close the gap or gain the 3 points quickly by using head kicking strategies.
The team competition concept was to fight off the elimination preliminaries in 5 groupings for each of the mens and womens divisions in teams of maximum four countries for each grouping for the first 3 days. After that the top 8 teams were determined from a points system that awarded points for each individual player win, team win, and then additional points for knock-outs. The top 8 teams each for mens and womens teams were then ranked accordingly into the quarter finals rounds, where the team ranked 1st will fight off with the 8th ranked team; 2nd with 7th; 3rd with 6th and 4th with 5th.
The team winners from the quarter finals then advance to the semi-finals and then the team winners advance to play off for gold and silver in the finals. The final results are:
Mens team:
1st – Iran; 2nd – Spain; 3rd - Turkey and Korea
Womens team:
1st – Korea; 2nd - China; 3rd – Thailand and Turkey
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.jpg "Monika (2x gold + silver); Quinn (silver); and Neb (bronze) displaying their sparring medals with coach Kim")
