Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association. Est 1972

Report on the 14th Taekwon-Do World Championships, Caloundra, Australia, 9 th – 14 th July 2005. by Robert Howard 6 th Degree

The 14 th ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships were held in Caloundra, Australia, from the 9 th – 14 th July 2005. Unfortunately this time we didn’t send any Irish competitors. However, Ireland was represented by Master Paul Kavanagh (7 th degree) and Mr Robert Howard (6 th degree) who both travelled to Australia to umpire.

Caloundra is a small city (town) north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast on the north-east coast of Australia. Although, as is usually the case at these events, I only saw the stadium and the hotel, Caloundra seemed to be a quiet place full of retired people.

I was sharing an apartment with the president of the Singapore TKD Federation and a Singaporean 1 st degree competitor. Master Kavanagh was sharing with Master Armstrong and Master Yeo from Sweden, both of whom we’d met at the Euros in Dublin and are friends of Master Howard.

As we were umpiring we had to be up early and be at the stadium at 8:30am for our umpires’ briefing by GM Leong Wei Meng (ITF Senior Umpire) and Master Prewitt (AETF Senior Umpire).

There was a team from South Korea this was the first time that a South Korean team had ever entered an ITF World Championships. As you probably know practically all Taekwon-Do students in South Korea are in the World Taekwon-Do Federation. There was great interest in the team and a lot of talk to ITF competitors entering the Olympics and about the recent talks between the ITF, WTF and the International Olympic Committee.

The first day started with the opening ceremony. All the countries marched in and there was an Australian TKD demo and an aboriginal music and dance troupe. The competition started after lunch with the individual male and female patterns. I was on ring 4. The ring council consisted of Master Kim 8 o (DPR Korea, teaching in Bulgaria), Master Peter Harkess 8 o (Scotland), Master Cindy Armstrong 7 o (Sweden) Mr Stephen Rooney 6 o (Scotland), Mr Seo Man Cheol 6 o (Japan), Mr Wayne King 3 o (Australia) and myself. We were judging 2 o Male Patterns and the Female 4 o Patterns. It was my first time judging at a world champs and I was a bit nervous. But I’d done many umpire courses under Master Howard, an ITF umpire course under GM Leong and one under Master Prewitt, and I’d also spend the past month studying the patterns (fast motion, continuous motion, technical content power, breathing, rhythm, balance) and felt confident that I could do a good job. The standard was very good, although the DPR (North) Koreans took gold in practically all the pattern events, there wasn’t much of a gap between then and the European competitors. The standard in Europe has really improved. Dean Mathews ( Wales) (he was the 4 nations team captain) got silver in the 4 th degree patterns. Lauritz Heilmann from Greenland, who was in Dublin on GM Leong’s Umpire course, got bronze in the 4 th degree patterns.

The second day was the individual sparring event. Our ring was judging the under 63kg male and the under 71kg male sparring. It was the same ring council as the previous day myself and Master Armstrong were appointed centre referees and we agreed to rotate the role. Again I was a bit nervous at the start but I’d studied the rules before I went over and was happy with what I knew. I think with centre refereeing if you look confident you’re half way there. When I wasn’t refereeing, I was a corner judge. Again the standard was high, and the speed and power of the kicks and punches was impressive. The contact was well controlled and only a few yellow cards were issued and only one or two red cards were issued in the entire competition. DPR Korea didn’t dominate here. The European competitors are tough sparrers and won nearly all of the male sections. The Korean females dominated their sections. The individual female power was also on that day.

The third day was ITF Congress. Master Kavanagh and myself were the Irish delegates. The new tournament rules were adopted. They’re not much different that what we’re doing but jumping middle 360o turning kicks are now 4 points and same kick high is worth 5 points. The idea is to get more people jumping and make the sparring more spectacular. You’ll also get a warning for more than 2 punches. There are now 5 techniques in the female power (elbow and either rev turning kick or jump back piercing kick (some confusion on which one)). The power has also changed. You now say how many boards you want to break for each technique. The person who breaks the most wins. Something similar goes for the special technique, where you say what height you want to jump. There’s an AETF Umpire course in Greece in October to discuss the new rules. Also Master Howard will be presenting the new rules at the next RITA Umpire course. But they won’t be introduced into our tournaments for a while, so don’t worry too much about them.

The Junior and Veteran World Championships will be held in July 2006 in Sofia (not the Philippines as planned). The date for the 2006 Euros in Greece might be moved from April to either March or November (to be confirmed), so that the two events aren’t so close together. The 2007 (15 th) Worlds will be in Slovenia. The 2009 (16 th) Worlds will be in either DPR Korea or Japan.

On day three of the competition our ring was given the individual male power and the team (male and female) power to judge. It went smoothly enough considering it’s usually the most controversial event. The serious competitors know the rules (ready stance, one measure, foot on the ground, striking tool) and usually perform the techniques correctly. Australia won the individual male power and Czech won the male team power.

Master Kavanagh was on special technique. There was a world record set in the special technique, one competitor (a Russian I think) jumped 3 metres in the over head kick. The team patterns were on at the same time as we were doing the power so I only got glimpses of it. DPR Korea won both the male and female. The England male team got a bronze.

Day 4

The last day of competition was the team sparring and the self-defence routine. The self-defence routine was on first. It’s a great event and really fun to watch and judge. This is a choreographed fight scene. There are two categories. One female vs two male, or one male vs three males. It’s a relatively new event in competitions and unique to the ITF. It really shows spectacular Taekwon-Do techniques unlike the sparring which is often just turning kick and punching.

After that we were judging the knock out stages of the female team sparring. They kept the finals of the male and females team sparring until the end. I was asked to be corner judge for the female team sparring finals. DPR Korea beat Russia in the final. Master Kavanagh was asked to be corner judge for the male team sparring finals. It was a great final with Russia beating the DPR Koreans 3-1.

At the end of the championships there were awards for the best centre referee, best umpire and best jury president. I received the ‘Best Umpire Award’ (to my great surprise). Master Prewitt Senior Umpire AETF) said he nominated me, because he thought that I was brutally honest and that I didn’t really didn’t care who won. I showed no favouritism and treated everyone equally.

In summary it was a great Championships. I’m really glad I went and took part. The reason I went was because GM Leong Wai Meng said that if you ever get a chance to umpire at a World Championships you should take it. You’ll learn so much and it’ll really improve what you do and what you teach. I took his advice and went and I have to agree with him. I learned loads and I met loads of Taekwon-Do people. Many of these had been at the Euros in Dublin and had really enjoyed themselves.

Mr Howard’s Highlights of the Champs

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze
N. Korea	17	6	2
Czech rep	7	2	4
Russia	4	6	3
Cook Island	2	1	0
Kazakhstan	1	5	3
Australia	1	2	4