Problems in Taekwondo version 2

Although Taekwondo is an Olympic sport, judging controversy happen very often in Taekwondo because the rules are not specific enough. Due to this matter, much bribery happen in Taekwondo. For instance, Judges can be bribed to give points easier or harder to either side. Intending to solve the problem, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) changed all the gear to electronic gear; attempt to make the scoring fairer. However, as a result, an outrageous event happened. Which made everyone wonder how fair is Taekwondo? Is Taekwondo a suitable sport for the Olympics?

This event took place in the Guangzhou Asia games in 2010. BBC stated Yang, Shu-chun; a representative of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) was “a promising gold metal”. However she was disqualified after the first round for, what Taiwanese think an unreasonable reason. Yang was leading 9:0 after the first round, when the second round started, the referee announced Yang’s Vietnamese opponent, Thi, Hau-vu won. The judges and referees did not let Yang or her coach explain or ask any questions. This left them and the whole world with absolutely no clue of what just happened. 

Later on, Zhao Lei, the technical referee of China stated that Yang had worn extra sensors on her heel, which meant that he was accusing Yang of cheating. Yang’s coach protested that Yang had passed the pre-match check, therefore if she did cheat; it was the judge who approved her equipment that was up to blame.

Many people think that Zhao was accusing Yang because of Wu, Jiang-yu. Wu is the representative from China that was in Yang’s weight division was the only opponent that had little chance to win Yang. If Wu won the go medal, it could benefit Zhao’s way to being the head of the Chinese Taekwondo Association.  Meaning that getting Yang eliminated could make sure Wu could win the gold medal.

To justify this situation, Taiwan sued China on the Court of Arbitration for Sports. The story ends by Yang being suspended for three months, as for her coach, he cannot participate in any Taekwondo events for 20 months.

This controversy ending does not mean that it had stopped other controversies to happen. People are still waiting for the WTF to end these judge controversies. Although many people are overwhelmed that Taekwondo is still in for the 2012 Olympics, it still has many problems waiting for the WTF to solve, the bribery and judging controversy and many more.