Bali in Indonesia has been officially confirmed as the location for the first ever World Beach Taekwondo Championships in June, an innovative new event in which men will wear sleeveless shirts and women will compete in tank tops.
The Championships, due to take place on June 4 and 5 this year, will consist only of poomsae and kyupka artistic solo events, rather than the kyorugi sparring competitions held at the Olympic Games and other major events.
Competition categories will be: recognised poomsae, free style poomsae, technical breaking, free style dynamic kicks and team demonstrations.
Poomsae is a non-sparring event where individuals or teams perform a "sequence of movements arranged in a meaningful order in response to attacks from multiple imaginary assailants".
Kyupka consists of objects being broken at speed using powerful taekwondo moves.
There is no need for protective clothing, due to the lack of sparring, meaning far skimpier uniforms can be worn to add to the appeal.
Long sleeves, tights and hijabs will be permitted for those whose religion requires them to, however, a release today confirmed.
Sunglasses will also be allowed.
The Championships will be a major opportunity for the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) to showcase the new discipline, which it hopes will be added to the programme for the inaugural Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games, due to be held in San Diego in September 2017.
A full programme of sports is yet to be finalised.
A meeting took place, though, between WTF President Chungwon Choue and ANOC counterpart Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah during last year's ANOC General Assembly in Washington D.C. to discuss the opportunity.
“The 1st WTF World Beach Taekwondo Championships provides our athletes with a new setting, new uniforms and a new look - and we expect new stars to emerge,” said Choue today.
“The event will also be a showcase for our sport the run-up to the inaugural ANOC Beach Games in San Diego in 2017.”
The World Beach Championships is open to any athlete with a WTF Global Athlete License and dan or poom rank certificates as issued by the Kukkiwon, the sport’s classification body.
There will two male and two female age divisions.
A total of 20 WTF international referees will oversee the tournament based on the modified WTF Poomsae competition rules and interpretation.
