History Of Taekwondo
- A Korean Martial Art In Modern Times -
- Part 2 -
By Jimmy Jagtiani *
November 3, 1962, the first competition rules were adopted under Korea Taesoodo Association. The competition area was 8 x 8 meter square. The referees were formed with 2-Juries with 6th Dan Black belt and above, 1-center Referee and 4-cornered Judges are not less than 4th Dan Black belt.
The competition was in group not an individual, each team consisting of 6 players and the matches were set according to order not by weight division. However in the process of developing Taekwondo competitions, several major problems occurred.
Competitors/players kept getting injured and knocked out, because at that time the idea of protective gear was not in fashion. Many masters including the coaches raised the questions and approached Master Woon Kyu Uhm about the same.
It was realized later that the chances of serious injuries should be reduced in order to ensure rapid promotion of the art and to raise the standard of the competition. Thus a demand to develop "HOGU" (chest guard) was raised.
On 5th Aug. 1965 the Korea Taesoodo Association was transformed into Korea Taekwondo Association, in order to provide solid base for a well developed Taekwondo Martial Art, worth to be adopted in the world over.
On 30th Nov. 1972 Kukkiwon (The World Taekwondo Headquarter) was established as central Dojang in Korea, which has educated and cultivated national and international master instructors, operating Dan screening test, issuing Dan certificate, Poomsae development, various research operating, sending Taekwondo demonstration team abroad, conducting World Taekwondo Hanmadang and various Taekwondo competition. Kukkiwon was the key role in establishing the World Taekwondo Federation, WTF in 1973.
On 25~27th May 1973, the 1st World Taekwondo Championship was held in Kukkiwon with 161 officials and participants from 17 countries. Korea stood First, U.S.A. Second, followed by China, Taipei and Mexico Third respectively.
On 28th May 1973, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) was founded for the global activities.
On 18-20th Oct. 1974 the 1st Asian Taekwondo Championship was held in Kukkiwon with 93 officials and participants from 10 countries.
On 20th May 1975, the names of nine different Taekwondo "Kwans" as referred above, were abolished under the aegis of the Kukkiwon (World Taekwondo Headquarter). It was agreed by all the senior masters that since the formation of the Korea Taekwondo Association (K.T.A.) was formed in 1965 and the World Taekwondo Federation (W.T.F.) was formed in 1973 which already been established, the use of different names representing Kwan proved meaningless.
Therefore, they decided to abolish Kwans to further aim at eliminating counter productive elements in furthering Taekwondo as a universal world sport. Following are the nine Kwans, which were abolished on 20th May 1975 at Kukkiwon:-
- The 1st Kwan - Songmoo-kwan
- The 2nd Kwan - Hanmoo-kwan
- The 3rd Kwan - Changmoo-kwan
- The 4th Kwan - Mooduk-kwan
- The 5th Kwan - Odo-kwan
- The 6th Kwan - Kangdu-kwan
- The 7th Kwan - Jungdo-kwan
- The 8th Kwan - Jido-kwan
- The 9th Kwan - Chungdo-kwan
To be continued ...
* Jimmy R. Jagtiani, Grand Master & 8th Dan , contributes regularly to e-pao.net . He can be contacted at jimmy_jagtiani(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)in . This article was webcasted on February 05, 2009.
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