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TaekwondoTaeKwondo Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and it is also a Korean national sport. It is a very popular martial art and it has been in the Olympics ever since 2000 as a type of sparring. It was created approximately 2000 years ago by the kogugryu warriors from the Joseon Dynasty. Today, it is known as a world-wide sport. Taekwondo is a martial art that exercises the whole body. The main purpose of this martial art is to defend oneself with his bare hands and feet when attacked by someone else. Taekwondo helps one to control his or her temper and to gain physical strength, strong will, more accurate judgment and more confidence. This martial art teaches one to be more respectful to others and to be strong and swift when fighting with others. Lastly, Taekwondo helps one to control his or her mind and his mental thoughts. Taekwondo combines combat techniques, self-defense, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy. Traditional Taekwondo emphasizes more on offense unlike modern Taekwondo, where it emphasizes more on control and self-defense. There are two different types of Taekwondo; one is Kukkiwon and the other is gyeorugi. These two styles have use different techniques and doctrines however they both have the same basic movements. Gyeorugi is one of the events at the summer Olympic Games and it is governed by World Taekwondo Federation which is known as WTF. Techniques and Gyoerugi In Taekwondo, there are basic movements that are emphasized in both styles. These movements include kicking, punching, open-handed striking, throwing, joint locking, blocking and various take-downs. One may also get the chance to learn the pressure points of one's body which is known as jiapsul along with other self-defense techniques borrowed from similar martial arts such as Hapkido and Judo. The main type of game is called Gyeorugi. Gyeorugi is a one-on-one sparring between two people using the different kinds of techniques. When playing this game, each player wears a body guard called hogu. Hogu is where each opponent attacks either by kicking or punching which helps them win a point in during the game. However, if an opponent hits another player in the head by punching it is counted as a foul. However, if a player kicks the opponents head, it is granted two points instead of one. The game takes place in an area of 10 meters and each game consists of 3 rounds with rests in between. Also, if a player is knocked down and the referee counts up to ten, the player that knocked down the other player receives an additional point. The player with the most points wins the game. During the game, if a player reaches 12 points, then that player immediately becomes the winner. When the two players tie, a "sudden death" round is played and the winner is declared through this one-minute match.
Rankings There are many different ranks in Taekwondo and these ranks are represented by the different colors of the belts. These belts are tied around the outfit that each Taekwondo player wears which is called a dobok. Everyone starts from a white belt and they eventually go up the rank and in the end becomes a black belt. These ranks are called geup and the highest someone can reach is 1 geup which then becomes 1 dan. The highest dan is 9 and when a person reaches 1 geup 9 dan it means that he or she has reached the maximum limit. The following colors are the different geups in Taekwondo and what each color represents.
Citation: http://www.barrel.net/belts.php, http://www.wikipedia.org/, http://www.naver.com/, http://www.pontiacata.com/id2.html |
