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The taekwondo competition of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, which will take place at the International Convention Center, will draw a total of 99 young taekwondo athletes from 66 countries.

The participating 48 male and 51 female athletes, all born between Jan. 1, 1993 and Dec. 31, 1994, will compete for top honors in five male and five female weight categories. The five male weight divisions are -48kg, -55kg, -63kg, -73kg and +73kg; while the five female weight categories are -44kg, -49kg, -55kg, -63kg and +63kg.

During the five-day taekwondo competitions, two weight category matches will take place every day. The competition schedule is as follows: the women’s -44kg and the men’s -48kg on Aug. 15, the women’s -49kg and the men’s -55kg on Aug. 16, the women’s -55kg and the men’s -63kg on Aug. 17, the women’s -63kg and the men’s -73kg on Aug. 18, and the women’s +63kg and the men’s +73kg on Aug. 19.

As a special program for the taekwondo spectators, the WTF Taekwondo Presentation Team will make a demonstration at the competition venue for 15 minutes from 7:35 p.m. on Aug. 15, 17 and 19. As part of the IOC-organized Culture and Education Program (CEP) activities, the WTF team will also make taekwondo demonstrations for Youth Olympic Games participants on the third floor of the International Convention Center on eight other occasions, two times a day on Aug. 15, 16, 17 and 18.

A total of 60 athletes, the top six athletes in each of the 10 weight categories at the WTF World Taekwondo Qualification Tournament for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games held on March 3-4, 2010 in Tijuana, Mexico, were qualified for the taekwondo competition. As Russia gave up one male ticket, a total of 59 athletes, 29 male and 30 female, were qualified.

Host country Singapore automatically received a quota place of three male and three female weight categories of its choice, but it decided to field two male and two female athletes.

Seventeen male and 20 female athletes received the Youth Olympic Games berths through the NOC universality places, better known as the wild cards, after tripartite negotiations among the International Olympic Committee, the NOCs and the World Taekwondo Federation. As an athlete from Belgium failed to attend the taekwondo competition because of his recent injury, the number of female wild-card athletes stood at 19.

The 66 participating countries break down to 21 countries in Asia, 18 countries in Europe, 14 countries in Africa, 11 countries in Pan America and two countries in Oceania.

Mexico fields five athletes, the biggest of the 66 countries, followed by Germany, Russia, Korea and host Singapore with four each. China, France, Iran and the United States send three athletes each, while Bahrain, Jordan, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, Ukraine, Canada, and Cuba dispatch two athletes each.

A total of 48 countries send one athlete. They are Bhutan, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan (Asia); Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Libya, Mali, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia (Africa); Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden (Europe); Argentina, Colombia, Haiti, Peru, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Surinam, Uruguay (Pan America); Kiribati and Tonga (Oceania).

An instant video replay system will be used for the taekwondo competition of the Youth Olympic Games, but electronic body protector and scoring systems (PSS) will not be used this time.

All the contests will take place at one court of a size of 8 meters by 8 meters, with a single elimination format. Two bronze medals will be awarded to the losers in the semifinals.

Each contest will consist of three rounds of two minutes, with one-minute intervals between rounds. In the case of a tied score after the 3rd round, there will be a fourth, sudden-death overtime round. In the case of a tied score after the 4th round, the winner shall be decided by all the refereeing officials on the basis of superiority. The decision on superiority shall be based on the initiative shown during the fourth round.

One referee and four judges will manage the contest. For an effective attack to the trunk, a competitor earns one point. For a successful turning kick to the trunk protector, the competitor earns two points, while a competitor will earn three points for an effective foot attack to the head.

There are two types of penalties: warning, or Kyong-go, and deduction, or Gam-jeom. Two warnings or one deduction penalty lead to the addition of one point to the opposing contestant. If a contestant accumulates four deduction penalties, or eight warnings, during a contest, the contest is stopped and his or her opponent is declared the winner by the referee.

In the event of mistakes in calculating the match score or misidentifying a contestant, the coach can lodge an official protest. Protests must be lodged within 10 minutes of the conclusion of the contest. The Competition Supervisory Board will deliver its findings within 15 minutes.

In case there is an objection to decisions of refereeing officials regarding scoring, penalties or misapplication of Competition Rules, each coach can request one video review per contest. After receiving the request, the Review Jury will review the pertinent situation on video replay and has to make a decision within two minutes. If the appeal is successful, the center referee will correct the judgment and the coach will retain the reviews request quota. If the appeal is not successful, the coach can not appeal again in the same match. Any coach, who has made two unsuccessful appeals for one athlete at the championships, is prohibited from making any further appeals for the pertinent athlete.

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Source: WTF.

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