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The World Taekwondo Federation signed a recognition contract with
LaJUST on electronic protectors at the headquarters
of the WTF in
Seoul on Sept. 11, 2006.
The contract period is five years. With the signing, the WTF is able
to
use the electronic protectors in the taekwondo competition of the
18th World Taekowndo Championships scheduled for in May
2007 in
Beijing, China, at the earliest.
The introduction of electronic protectors is expected to greatly
enhance
the image of taekwondo and the WTF, as they could reduce
possible controversies arising from judgment and refereeing at
taekwondo
competitions.
"The signing bears a great significance in that the use of electronic
protectors could make judgment
at taekwondo competitions more
objective and transparent," said WTF President Chungwon Choue. "It
makes a milestone
in the history of taekwondo and the WTF."
According to the recommendations of the now disbanded WTF Reform
Committee
on fairer judgment and refereeing at taekwondo competitions,
the WTF set up an ad-hoc Committee on Electronic Protectors
in July
2005.
The WTF held a demonstration of electronic protectors on July 20, 2005 in
Seoul.
In accordance
with the recommendations of the ad-hoc committee after
the first demonstration, the WTF commissioned the Korea Institute
of
Sports and Science (KISS) to produce a report on basic specifications
of electronic protectors. On Dec. 30, 2005,
the WTF announced the
KISS-produced specifications on electronic protectors.
The WTF held another demonstration
of electronic protectors on March
25, 2006 in Seoul. The demonstration drew four electronic protector
manufacturers
– LaJUST of Korea; ATM of Austria; True Score (Impact
Measurement), a joint venture between the Untied States and
Korea; and
Daedo International of Spain.
The ad-hoc Committee on Electronic Protectors announced its evaluation
results
of the electronic protector demonstration on March 28, 2006.
Of the four participating demonstrators, LaJUST was the
only
participants that passed the "acceptable" level of the basic technical
requirements in four categories to be applied
to taekwondo
competition.
The four categories are accuracy of the sense-impact level,
differentiation of valid
impact and invalid impact, consecutive
impacts and calibration.
According to the KISS report to the WTF in June
this year, LaJUST also
passed the laboratory tests, which involved transmission systems,
safety on electricity and electronics,
and endurance of materials.
On July 29, 2006, there was a JaJUST demonstration of electronic
protectors during the
6th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships in
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, drawing a positive response from
spectators.
LaJUST
started developing electronic protector systems in 1982 and has
since conducted electronic-protector demonstrations at
about 130
official and unofficial taekwondo competitions. As recently as in
October 2003, LaJUST electronic protectors
were used at the 24th
Yonsei University President's Flag Taekwondo Championships in Seoul.
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