A total of 461 athletes from 46 countries are scheduled to compete at the Olympic Gymnasium in the Mexican city across four days of action which gets underway tomorrow and is scheduled to last until until Sunday (November 2).

The Championships will feature both recognised and freestyle competitions and athletes will be competing across 36 weight categories.

In the recognised poomsae competition, a cut-off system will be introduced for the preliminaries and semifinal rounds, but the final round will be conducted in a single elimination format for the first time.

The duration of contests for the individual, pair and team competitions is from 30 seconds to 90 seconds with the break time of between 30 and 60 between the first poomsae and the second poomsae.

More than 450 athletes will be competing for honours in the Olympic Gymnasium during the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships ©WTF



In another first, the Championships will feature cadet divisions in recognised poomsae, for athletes aged between 12 and 14-years-old, as well as those between 61 and 65-years-old and an over 66 category.

In freestyle poomsae, performance is based on taekwondo techniques with a composition of music and choreography.

The duration of the freestyle poomsae contests in the individual, pair and mixed team competitions is from 60 to 70 seconds.

The discipline was first introduced at the 2012 World Championships in Tunja, Colombia.

The freestyle poomsae competition will be held for the first time in two age categories for athletes aged between 12 and 17-years-old the under 17 and those over 17-years-old.

A total of 50 international poomsae referees will officiate at the Championships and they have already held a meeting and training session in the Marriott Hotel in Aguascalientes yesterday.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related Stories
December 2012: World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships gets underway in Tunja