Tournament Rules

Competitors Rules Brief applying to all GTI Tournaments

*NB. This ‘Competitors Brief’ contains information relevant to competitors and is abridged from the full competition rules contained in the ‘GTI Tournament Rules – Appendix B’ of the GTI Constitution

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GTI Tournament Rules

Since its founding, the Global Taekwondo International has been regularly organising tournaments. Our tournaments are run on an invitational basis to the schools and associations who follow the ITF style. We conduct the sparring competition under strict 'light and semi contact' rules. We implement 'points away' penalties and disqualification for any excessive contact. We require a minimum of 9 kup (white belt with yellow stripe or tags) to enter our tournaments.

Below is a very brief summary of the divisions. Please use the link above for a move comprehensive guide.

Belt divisions and weights

Belts: The ITF belt ranking system applies as follows:

9th kup – white belt with yellow stripe or tags
8th kup – yellow belt
7th kup – yellow belt with green stripe or tags
6th kup – green belt
5th kup – green belt with blue stripe or tags
4th kup – blue belt
3rd kup – blue belt with red stripe or tags
2nd kup – red belt
1st kup – red belt with black stripe or tags
1st dan and above – black belt

The adult category is for competitors aged 18 years and older. The junior category is for competitors under 18 years of age.

Divisions

The belt ranks fall into the following divisions with separate categories for men, women, boys, and girls. The Peewee category is an exception and can include mixed grades of boys and girls. The option of a veterans' (40yrs & over) category may also be available at particular events.

Yellow – 9th to 7th kup
Green – 6th and 5th kup
Blue – 4th and 3rd kup
Red – 2nd and 1st kup
Black – all dan grades

Belt divisions may be merged depending on how many participants attend.

Adult male sparring weights

Weight divisions are specifically calibrated for the hundreds of competitors who are fighting on the day. A rough guide using traditional boundaries would include:

Light weight - up to & incl. 67kg
Middle weight - over 67kg up to & incl. 76kg
Light-heavy weight - over 76kg up to & incl. 85kg
Heavy weight - over 85kg

Adult female sparring weights

Weight divisions are specifically calibrated for the hundreds of competitors who are fighting on the day. A rough guide using traditional boundaries would include:

Light weight - up to & incl. 60kg
Middle weight - over 60kg up to & incl. 70kg
Heavy weight - over 70kg

Junior sparring weights

NB. If any division has insufficient entrants to allow for a competitive bout, then at the Chief Umpires' discretion categories may be merged. Junior age ranges may also be amended for the same reason or if there is concern for the safety of junior competitors.

Junior Male & Female Sparring Weights 10 Years & under:

Peewee* - up to & incl. 125cm
Light weight - over 125cm up to & incl. 135cm
Middle weight - over 135cm up to & incl. 145cm
Heavy weight - over 145cm

Junior Male & Female Sparring Weights 11 to 13 Years:

Light weight - up to & incl. 135cm
Middle weight - over 135cm up to & incl. 145cm
Light-heavy weight- over 145cm up to & incl. 155cm
Heavy weight - over 155cm

Junior Male Sparring Weights 14 to 17 Years:

Light weight - up to & incl. 60kg
Middle weight - over 60kg up to & incl. 67kg
Light-heavy weight- over 67kg up to & incl. 76kg
Heavy weight - over 76kg

Junior Female Sparring Weights 14 to 17 Years:

Light weight - up to & incl. 57kg
Middle weight - over 57kg up to & incl. 67kg
Heavy weight - over 67kg

*NB. Peewee division is mixed boys & girls if insufficient numbers do not allow for separate categories. Other junior weights have separate divisions for boys & girls.

Sparring competition

Yellow and green belt juniors: Point stop sparring
Blue, red and black belt juniors: Continuous sparring
All adult coloured and black belts: Continuous sparring

Duration of bouts

The duration of bouts can be changed on the day but a good guide would be the following criteria.

Junior and adult coloured belt divisions: 1 1/2 minutes
Junior and adult black belt divisions: 2 minutes
Finals in black belt continuous sparring: 2 x 2 minutes with 1 minute break

Please note: in point stop bouts, if a competitor scores 10 points, then the bout will be stopped and awarded to that competitor.

Scoring of points

1 point awarded for any hand technique to any target area
2 points awarded for foot technique to mid section area
3 points awarded for foot technique to high section area

Target areas

High: head and neck area complete
Middle: trunk of the body from neck to lower abdomen vertically and from a line drawn from armpit vertically down to the waist on each side
Middle: kidney area (only scoring area of back)

Please note: No hand techniques are allowed to the face in peewee and lightweight junior yellow and green belt divisions. Hand techniques will be scored for all other parts of the head covered by the head guard, including the protected forehead area.

Demerit points and disqualifications

Point stop sparring penalties: points will be deducted from the offender's score. If the offender has no points or insufficient points for penalty, then any outstanding points will be added to their opponent's score.

Continuous sparring penalties: as points cannot be deducted from the handheld counters used by the umpires, the relevant points will be added to their opponent's score.

Penalties

Stepping out of the area twice (i.e. on the 2nd, 4th, 6th and every other subsequent occasion). A competitor is considered to have “stepped out” when one foot fully crosses the perimeter line.
Unintentional excessive contact on 2nd and all further occasions (i.e. after one warning by the referee).
Loss of balance on each occasion (a competitor is considered to have lost balance when any part of the body other than the feet, come in contact with the floor).
Grabbing any part of the opponent or their dobok after the referee’s warning.
Tripping or leg sweeping the opponent on every occasion.

Discretionary points away or official warnings

These may be awarded by the referee after one warning for the following:

Unsportsmanlike behaviour
Intentional lack of effort
Excessive contact and aggression
Illegal technique (e.g. low kicking, knee and elbow strikes, pushing)

Disqualifications will be awarded by the referee for the following:

Intentional excessive contact or unnecessary aggression
Repeated on “point away” offences
Showing dishonour or disrespect to the officials, competitors or to the area
Second occasion that an official warning (yellow card) is awarded
Immediately on showing of the red card.

Accumulative disqualification

During a sparring competition, a referee may award an “official warning” for offences listed above. Any competitor who receives 2 official warnings during the entire competition will be disqualified from the competition immediately upon receipt of the 2nd official warning. The referee will display a yellow card when announcing an official warning. A red card can be issued directly without the need for prior yellow cards (depending on the nature and severity of the offence). The referees must announce to the competitor, umpires and recorder than an official warning is being given. The recorder marks the official warning against the competitor’s name on the competitor list, then, before the start of the next and all subsequent bouts, the recorder will announce than the competitor is carrying an official warning.

Contact and injury

As detailed previously above, contact is penalised but if in the opinion of the referee a competitor steps forward into a technique, which otherwise would have been correctly

focused, points will be awarded to the attacker as if it were a “decisive blow”.

If a competitor is unable to continue in such a situation, the bout will be awarded to the attacker. In all other cases of unintentional and intentional excessive contact, where a

competitor is unable to continue, the injured competitor will be awarded the bout (subject to referee’s decision).

Pattern competition

The following patterns are the choices available to each division:

Yellow – Chon-Ji, Dan-Gun, or Do-San
Green – Do-San, Won-Hyo, or Yul-Gok
Blue – Yul-Gok, Joong-Gun, or Toi-Gye
Red – Toi-Gye, Hwa-Rang, or Choong-Moo
Black – Choong-Moo or any dan grade pattern relevant to grade

Where sufficient entry number allow the belt divisions will be further subdivided using the following guidelines:

Coloured Belts

• 10yrs & under

• 11 to 13yrs

• 14 to 17yrs

• Adults (18-39yrs)

• Veterans (40yrs & over)

Black Belts

• 13yrs & under – 1st Dans

• 14 to 17yrs – 1st Dans

• 13yrs & under – 2nd & 3rd Dans

• 14 to 17yrs – 2nd & 3rd Dans

• Adults – 1st Dans

• Adults – 2nd & 3rd Dans

• Adults – 4th Dans & Above

• Veterans 40yrs & over – All Dan Grades

NB. A Veteran (40yrs & over) competitor may elect to compete in a non-veteran category but cannot compete in both veteran and non-veteran divisions.

Destructive competition

Board breaking takes place only at our British and English Championships and is open to adult Blue, Red, and Black belt adult divisions. Each competitor attempts five different breaks as listed below. One point is awarded for each successful break. In the event of a draw the lightest competitor will be announced as winner.

Red and Blue belts:

1 white board
palm heel strike
Knife hand or reverse knife hand
Left side kick - back leg
Right side kick - back leg
Reverse side kick/spinning back kick

Black belts:

1 black board
palm heel strike
Knife hand or reverse knife hand
Jumping left side kick - from parallel ready stance
Jumping right side kick - from parallel ready stance
Jumping reverse side kick

Each competitor will have one attempt to break with only one pre judging of distance is allowed. The hand or foot must not touch the board when measuring.

Bandages and strapping

All competitors with injuries which require bandaging or strapping of any type must satisfy the judges of their need and obtain approval before performing (i.e. no hard materials or pins can be worn, neither can bandaging give extra support so that it constitutes an advantage to that competitor).

Jewellery

No jewellery, watches or any other adornments may be worn. Hair may be kept in place using a material of soft elastic nature only, no grips or slides allowed.

Uniforms and safety equipment

Global Taekwondo International members must wear their official white GTI uniform at the English and British championships. Other associations must wear a traditional or freestyle dobok with relevant ITF belt ranking as listed above.

T-shirts are not permitted.

Safety equipment

All competitors must wear the following safety equipment:

Groin guard protector of an approved type for men
Hand and feet safety equipment of an approved type
Shin protectors of an approved type
Head guard

Optional equipment:

Breast or groin protectors for women
Gum shields

Please note: hand and foot protectors suitable for semi contact must be worn. Bag, grappling or boxing/ weighted/ laced gloves are not permitted. The foot protector must be a full boot type which only leaves the sole exposed, and must be of the correct size so that the toes do not protrude.

black belt patterns competitors lined up

Official commands

The following are the commands that referees will issue to competitors during a tournament:

Charyot: attention
Kyong ye: bow
Chunbi: ready stance
Si jak: start
Hye chyo: break (sparring only)
Barro: return to ready stance

Dispute procedure

For all events in all tournaments any disputes arising will be dealt with as follows:

Tournaments chief umpire: all organisers will appoint a person to act as the chief umpire. This person must be present in the arena throughout the whole of the tournament. Generally this person will be the most experienced official at the event
All competitors must nominate on their competition entry from a delegate to act on their behalf in the event of any disputes. This person would normally be their club instructor, but can be any black belt that is fully conversant with the GTI tournament rules.
All competitors who wish to dispute a decision must go through their delegate direct to the chief umpire. Neither the competitor, nor any person other than the delegate, is allowed to approach the chief umpire direct.
In order to give a decision on any dispute, the chief umpire may call officials, competitors or delegates, as he/ she so desires in order to give evidence or opinions on the dispute.
On reaching a decision, the chief umpire will notify all parties concerned, and this decision will be binding and cannot be appealed against.
A copy of the full GTI Tournament rules as laid down in appendix B of the constitution must be present at all tournaments and must be accessible to all competitors and officials.
The tournament chief umpire must base all their dispute decisions on the rules as laid down in this document, and in no case can their final decision conflict with these rules.
Delegates, competitors or team captains who persist in arguing against a decision made by the chief umpire, may at his/ her discretion, have their whole team or club disqualified from further events at the tournament.

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