This is great and possibly a move to beef up arguments to continue Taekwondo as an Olympic Sport going forward. I'm going to call it the equivalent of tag team Taekwondo.
"The competition ended with the Korean team's victory over the Russians at a score of 50 to 47 in the midst of enthusiastic support from a stadium jam-packed with local Russian fans."
Not sure there is an opportunity to make a great living doing this or any other professional Taekwondo event ( e.g. PRO Taekwondo ), but why not make a few bucks for something you love to do. The Korean Team took home 20K while the runner's up raked half that. Maybe not too bad of a payday especially if you live in an area of the world where 10K is a dream.
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"The spectators and TV audiences expressed their excitement after watching the new exciting 5-member team competition between Korean and Russian male teams at the Moscow Martial Arts Center.
The two teams were so very evenly balanced in the pursuit of victory and exchanged attacks and counter-attacks at full speed and power, which made the spectators feel thrilled throughout the competition. The competition ended with the Korean team's victory over the Russians at a score of 50 to 47 in the midst of enthusiastic support from a stadium jam-packed with local Russian fans.
In an effort to promote a new breed of taekwondo, the WTF tested this new 5-member team competition format featured with different competition rules on the international stage for the first time and it turned out to be a resounding success.
Each team consisted of five athletes of different weight categories and the three rounds totaled 19 minutes. The first round lasted five minutes in which each athlete should compete for a minute. The second and third round were of 7 minutes each, where an athlete can be replaced with another athlete at any time regardless of the weight categories as long as he has carried out at least three attacks.
This new and innovative rule of "free changes of athletes" sparked excitement among the spectators, reminding them of the tag team match often seen in professional wrestling. It also lessened the pressure on the athletes that they should control their power to ensure being able to going to the last minute, instead allowing them to lash out all their power and high-level techniques at full speed.
Moreover, as the timing for athlete exchange affects a lot on the flow of the match team coach's strategy play an important role as well.
In addition, the scoring system featured with differentiated points given to the level of technique encouraged athletes to attempt to deliver high-caliber techniques. For example, a kick to the head is three points, while a turning-kick to the head gains four points. If an athlete knocks out the opponent, he will gain 10 points.
To build on the momentum and formalize this format in the taekwondo competition structure, a few more test matches will be conducted at international taekwondo competitions in 2011 including the WTF World Taekwondo Championships to be held in Gyeongju, Korea in May and the 6th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Vladivostok, Russia, before official inclusion in the WTF World Cup Team Championships in 2012."
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