Click photo to enlarge
Danny Cartledge (left) battles with fellow Christchurch
fighter Alan Brian. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Taekwondo has embraced the electronic age to make its
sport simpler.
The Korean martial art has long entrusted judging to the
human eye.
Two fighters roam the ring and four judges are positioned
around the edges to note when clean hits are made.
But now, taekwondo is going high-tech.
Competitors and spectators at the South Island WTF
championships in Dunedin on Saturday got their first look at
electronic chest pads which may revolutionise the sport.
"We're pretty excited about it. It's the future of the sport,
basically," Green Island Taekwondo Club instructor Grant Beel
said.
"It takes the human element right out of the scoring side of
things. You have to hit the pad with significant force.
"That creates an electronic pulse, which goes back to the
computer and scores the point."
Beel said human judges often missed clean hits.
In a system similar to boxing, three of the four judges have
to register a hit by either fighter for a point to be
awarded.
The electronic pads can be set according the ability of the
fighter, so a flyweight will not have to hit them as hard as
a heavyweight in order to score a point.
The pads will likely be used at the next Oceania
championships, expected to be held in Auckland at the end of
the year.
Saturday's tournament was held under the WTF and Olympic
rules, involving full-contact sparring over three 2min
rounds.
The upset of the day was in the senior women's flyweight,
where rising star Hayley Schofield (Wellington) beat New
Zealand representative Aroha Miller (Christchurch).
Tneal Wilson (Blenheim) chalked up three straight wins in the
junior women's lightweight and beat Tylah Bruce (Dunedin) in
the final, while Oceania champion Dafydd Sanders (Auckland)
easily won the men's heavyweight crown.
The best Dunedin fighter was Cody Jeffery (Green Island), who
claimed the junior black belt middleweight title, with a
third-round knockout against Dallas Carr (New Brighton).
Taekwondo New Zealand secretary-general Matt Ransom was
delighted with the city's response to hosting the South
Island tournament.
