BY: WTF

Details about the upcoming WTF ranking system.

On January 21st, WTF decided to categorize WTF sanctioned events into 10 classes starting from January 2009. The 10 classes of WTF sanctioned events can be divided as following:

• 7 Stars (G7) - 2009 World Taekwondo Championships
• 5 Stars (G5) - WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships
• 3 Stars (G3) - 2009 Summer Universiade
• 2 Stars (G2) - 2009 US Open Taekwondo Championships
• 1 Star (G1) - 3rd Alexandria International Open Taekwondo Championships, 21st Fajr International Taekwondo Championships, 2009 Dubai Open International Taekwondo Championships, 2nd Lusophone Games, 9th Central American Games, 2nd Islamic Solidarity Games, and 2009 East Asian Games

The highest scores that can be achieved in 2009 is the 7 star event - the 2009 World Taekwondo Championships. Only WTF sanctioned events will be evaluated to rate the fighters' rankings.

The WTF ranking system is expected to create two major benefits for Taekwondo. First, it will bring out TKD competitors from all over the world to WTF sanctioned events. Finishing in the top places in the Olympic, world events, and major events is the main focus, because these events hold more value (scoring) for the ranking system.

Additionally, if WTF ranked fighters participate in major events, they will have the advantage of favorable seeding in the competition. If there are 64 competitors and 16 ranked fighters, the 16 ranked fighters will not face ranked opponents until there are only 16 left in the competition. The seeding will be advantageous in the sense that the chance for ranked fighters to face each other in the early rounds will be minimized. This is clearly a disadvantage for unranked fighters, facing tough opponents in the early rounds, making it difficult to get through the first few rounds.

The ranking systems should also be beneficial to better market TKD. After the Beijing Olympics, England's BBC advised WTF that their media strategies needed work. Most media covering TKD had no idea what matches or fighters to focus on. It was difficult for the media to effectively market TKD because there was no focus, but rather mediocre coverage of all the matches. This ranking system will better direct the media to focus on the important matches and fighters.

WTF will determine the class for continental championships in the upcoming meeting in February. They plan to finalize the software for the ranking system and release the ranks on their homepage at the end of February.