To maintain Taekwondo as an Olympic discipline, officials have revised rules and are seeking greater publicity for the Korean martial art.

The World Taekwondo Federation announced the revised rules of Taekwondo on Sunday in a ceremony attended by representatives from about 30 countries. The highlight is the reduction of the arena size from 10 sq. meters to 8 sq. meters, which is expected to induce players to become more aggressive, with less space to retreat from attacks.

Players will win different points when they attack different parts of the opponent's body. In the past, the point system was simple -- a point when for striking the opponent's body and two points for striking the face. But from now on players win an extra point when they succeed in sophisticated attack techniques.

Under the new rules, they can win a point if they strike any part of the head, not just the face. So far, the game was declared officially finished if either of the players won 12 points or if the difference between the two players' points was more than seven points, but that will no longer hold good.

Under the new rules, players will also win points when their opponent receives a warning or demerit points.

To improve fairness, it will be possible to reverse the referee's decision if found to be an obvious misjudgment. But the WTF decided to postpone judgment based on video images or fear that this process will lead to delays. The WTF will submit the revised rules to its executive committee in Ankara, Turkey on Dec. 15.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Perhaps the reason why people keep calling TKD a sport instead of a martial art is the way we refer to our competitive martial artist as "players"

Kickchick that was not a statement agaist you just a general statement.  I personally wish they also gave points for clear combination handstrikes, but perhaps that will come in time.

Interesting to see how this changes competitive sparring.

So now contestants will be scored the same for a head kick as they are for a body shot?  Can't see how this is an improvement.  Eons ago, when I was in Shotokan and Tang So Do, I remember the talk was that if you could hit someone's face but didn't you got 2 points instead of one.  Of course, we all joked about it saying "what difference does it make if your opponent scores 2 points but you knock him out?"

I think the change in mat size is good idea. 

I was merely quoting directly from (englishnews@chosun.com ) ...   typically used for athletes.

TKD is both a sport AND a martial art ... if you compete and play by rules then you are engaging in a sport ... and hence a player

"players win an extra point when they succeed in sophisticated attack techniques"

So if the answer to all of our scoring problems is an electronic hogu to eliminate errors of the corner judges, I can hardly wait to see how they train the e-hogu to recognize when an attack is sophisticated enough to merit and extra point.

Shrinking the size of the ring will not induce more action. I have been to plenty of local events with small rings. High level players will continue to play a high level game regardless of ring size.

Getting rid of the ceiling is good, but keep the gap. Maybe increase it to 9 or 10.

Get rid of 4 corner judges and go back to 3. JMHO

What difference does it make if player A commits a foul if points are deducted from player A or if points are awarded to player B? It makes no difference at all. So that change is just stupid.

If you are going to allow rulings to be overturned, then video should be allowed.

I refer to TKD as a sport and those that participate in it as players. We abandoned the concept of TKD as a martial art a couple of years ago in our family and have not looked back.

regarding that "player" vs "fighter", in china, korea, and japan (and maybe other asian countries), fighter implies someone like a thug, a bar brawler, someone who lacks discipline, respect, and honor.

in korea,  martial arts that are competed in sports setting (e.g., taekwondo, judo, karate, wrestling, boxing, etc) are referred to as "holy" sports, with respect and honor in the game.  those who use dirty tricks in those sports are often judged more harshly by the public than those who use dirty tricks in other sports, such as basketball, soccer, baseball. 

I cant help but notice the similarities to ITF sparring; smaller ring, loss of points foe warnings, extra points for advanced tech's; a step in that direction perhaps? I dunno, maybe its just hopeful thinking.

It should make it far more interesting than the olympics were though, the only thing that I think is missing is some kind of encouragement to use hand techniques as well; I didnt see one used in the entire competition! I also agree that the 'mismatch' rule should have either stayed or been extended; if someone is winning by that much then it makes no sense to continue.

Thanks for posting this KC!

I do like the idea of a smaller ring but I don't think that it will induce the competitor to become more aggressive. It will force them to counter sooner by giving them less space to maueuver though.

I do find it odd that they are reducing the head contact to one point. Maybe they hope the competitors will try more combinations than just head shots if the value is the same? Still... something satisfying about tapping your opponent in the noggin

There might be some merit to the sophisticated attack point addition - kind of on the fence about that one. The electronic Hogu was supposed to take part of the judging controversy away and this seems to be a step back towards judging "problems".

Simon - maybe these changes have some part in the WTF / ITF unification?

Well since the WTF is a sports governing body, they do govern a sport & nothing else. In fact if you know your history the Jidokwan developed the rules to make them different from karate. It did it purpose & over time resulted in some revolutionary changes in how TKD was trained & viewed. The emphasis on the foot techniques had the very good side result of pushing players to be faster & quicker on their feet. The very bad side result of the downplay of the hands resulted in the obvious view of the majority of martial artists today. This was also reinforced by the prohibitation of sweeps, take downs & grabbing. So today you have what many consider to be a boring sport of trying to tag your opponent with your foot, not fighting. I appreciate that process & think it is very exciting at times to see talented players as they via to out point their opponent by crafty counters while their opponent is in motion. Of course since that is hard to do & the strategy is difficult to engage, some veiw it as boring, rather than nail biting. The same can be said for American baseball. It is good to see that they are moving towards a maybe more ITF approach. maybe that will help its image as a MA, vs a martial or Olympic sport.