WTF Youth Olympic Qualifier - NZ Junior Team Results

Held in Tijuana Mexico, between the 3rd and 5th March our three athletes competed well with a top 16 placing overall for Randy Javier.

Randy Javier, competing in the male under 55Kg division, had a good win against Tunisia, 5 - 4 in his first match and followed that up with an impressive win against Columbia before losing to Israel in his third match. Randy was still able to crack the top 16 with his three matches.

Meanwhile, Chris Casey (male under 63kgs) had a close-fought loss to Tunisia, 2-0 but still put up a strong performance, and our third team-member, Hetal Shukla (female under 49kgs) was outscored from the opening in her match against Guatemala, with the Guatemalan taking the win.

Next up our team heads to the WTF Junior World Championships being held between 6th - 9th March, and also in Tijuana.

Sports Accord Combat Games

Taekwondo Allows Hijab for Muslim Women

The World Taekwondo Federation’s (WTF) policy of encouraging women’s participation will be highlighted during next month’s World Taekwondo Championships when Muslim women who are obliged to wear a hijab (head scarf) in public will be among about 400 female competitors from more than 140 countries. 

WTF competition rules were formally changed earlier this year to allow the hijab.  

Mr. Dae Won Moon, Chairman of the WTF Technical Committee, said: “The decision allowing the wearing of hijabs in taekwondo tournaments, including during the Olympic Games, is motivating Muslim women who have strong religious beliefs to take a more active part in the sport and the Olympic movement.
 
“This measure means that taekwondo is one of the few sports that treats women and men equally in the Muslim world. We believe that our respect for others’ cultures and beliefs will allow taekwondo to enhance its status as an Olympic sport.”

 The issue of sportswomen who wish to wear Islamic attire was highlighted by a number of women competing in the Beijing Olympic Games last year.

Muslim women competitors wore hijabs for the first time at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

SPARC’s Strategic Plan 2009-2015 is now available on SPARC’s website at: -

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Master Norm Edwards over the weekend.  Norm suffered a stroke and despite a strong fight passed away on Sunday morning.  He will be greatly missed by his family, students and Taekwondo practitioners around the country.  Norm has been one of the longest serving and hardest working Master Instructors in New Zealand, trained numerous champions and ran many clubs.  His personality and love for his students was well known and he was a respected leader in his community.

Our sincere condolences go to his family and students.

• Differentiation in points
  One (1) point for attack on trunk protector
  Two (2) points for a valid turning kick to the trunk protector
  Three (3) points for a successful attack to the face
  “Turning kick” refers to a technique that travels 180 degrees or more commencing with the back turning towards the opponent e.g. back kick, spinning hook kick, spinning round kick.
• There is no longer an extra point given if the referee counts
• 7 point margin and 12 point ceiling no longer applies
• Raising the knee to block the opponents valid technique will result in a penalty
• Passive play or avoiding the match;
  If both contestants remain inactive after five (5) seconds, the center referee will signal the “Fight” command.  A “Kyong-go” will be declared: On both contestants if there is no activity from them 10 seconds after the command was given; or on the contestant who moved backwards from the original position 10 seconds after the command was given.
• The ring size is now 8 x 8 metres
• Deduction penalties are now added to the opponents score rather than deducted from the offending player
• Revised weight categories

We arrived safely after some lengthy flights, and have so far recovered from the jet lag. The village here is very large and is a good mixing ground for all of the athletes.

The daily temperature is between 25 and 35 degrees, with rain in the mornings followed by 90% humidity. The time is quite deceiving, it gets light at 3:30am and dark at 9pm, which is good for morning runs and training. The training facilities are good, with mats laid out in one of the halls at the Taekwondo venue.

Nicolas Dorman

At the Games Village

NZ Competes in Taekwondo event at World University Games

Vaughn Scott (Auckland) and Nicolas Dorman (Christchurch) will compete in the Taekwondo event at the 2009 World University Games this week in Belgrade, Serbia.  

 Accompanied by NZ National Team Head Coach Master Jin Keun Oh, this will be the first time New Zealand has participated in Taekwondo at the World University Games. TNZ is very proud of both Vaughn and Nicolas, and on behalf of all members wishes them every success at this significant global high performance event.  The World University Games are the second biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics, and give athletes a chance to experience the challenges of competing at a major multi-sports event.

We will keep you all posted with updates as they come to hand.

Visit the Taekwondo page on the World University Games website.

Vaughn, Master Oh and Nic at Auckland Airport

HEHA (Healthy Eating, Healthy Action) Knowledge Library, an online database of New Zealand –based research and evaluation information focused on physical activity, physical recreation, exercise science and medicine, sport, nutrition, and obesity developed from the year 2000 onwards.