Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:48:22 +0100 From: the_dojang-request@martialartsresource.net Subject: The_Dojang digest, Vol 15 #7 - 1 msg X-Mailer: Mailman v2.0.13.cisto1 MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain To: the_dojang@martialartsresource.net Errors-To: the_dojang-admin@martialartsresource.net X-BeenThere: the_dojang@martialartsresource.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13.cisto1 Precedence: bulk Reply-To: the_dojang@martialartsresource.net X-Reply-To: the_dojang@martialartsresource.net List-Unsubscribe: , List-Id: The Internet's premier discussion forum on Korean Martial Arts. 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See the Korean Martial Arts (KMA) FAQ and the online search engine for back issues of The_Dojang at http://MartialArtsResource.com Pil Seung! Today's Topics: 1. Electronic Chest Protector Fight (Jye nigma) --__--__-- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:35:27 -0800 (PST) From: Jye nigma To: the_dojang@martialartsresource.net, itf-taekwondo@yahoogroups.com Subject: [The_Dojang] Electronic Chest Protector Fight Reply-To: the_dojang@martialartsresource.net Go to www.atm-sport.eu and you will see a lot of interesting stuff there regading Electronic Body Protectors. Who Will Stop Electronic Chest Protector Fight? The Electronic Chest Protector, which was introduced to resolve the controversial decisions made by referees, causes more trouble; WTFfs contract could be a big problem. Eunjoo CHOI, Reporter flowerpig@hani.co.kr gWe will introduce electronic chest protectors to resolve the argument over refereesf decisionsh This is what Jeongwon CHO, President of WTF, said right after the IOC decided to keep taekwondo as an official Olympic sport at its general meeting in July 2005. An electronic chest protector is a protector that has an electronic sensor system implanted in it. It is a system that senses the impact of a playerfs hit to give a mark at taekwondo matches. The introduction of the electronic chest protector was thought to be a good way to resolve the argument concerning the controversial decisions made by referees during taekwondo matches. This is also one of the major innovations WTF has been eagerly promoting in order to save taekwondo from its crisis of being excluded from the Olympics. But this electronic chest protector system, which was introduced ambitiously, is now instead darkening the future of taekwondo, as the fairness of the selection process for which companiesf products would be granted official status has been called into question. This started when the WTF signed an exclusive official contract with LaJUST, a manufacturer of electronic chest protectors, on 11 September 2006. The major contents of the WTF-LaJUST contract, obtained by Hankyore21, are as follows: The WTF shall arrange for only LaJUST products to be used at all competitions organized by the WTF. Only LaJUST products shall be used at the Olympics as well. ˘ LaJUST should pay the WTF a million dollars for approving and sponsoring the product. LaJUST should pay $250,000 if they sell at least 300,000 protectors and $500,000 for over 700,000 products. LaJUST should pay the WTF $3.00 per product to be put into a WTF fund. ˘ The period of the contract is 5 years starting on 18 May 2007, with a five-year optional extension if mutually agreed between the WTF and LaJUST. Holding demonstration for other companies while hiding about the contract Even after signing this contract, it has been confirmed that the WTF has never disclosed the details of the contract to the media nor to the Vice President of the WTF and other related staff. Rather, the WTF hid details of the contract and held an electronic chest protector demonstration for other companies such as adidas and Daedo on 12 January. The WTF also sent the products from these companies to KISS for a test. This means that the WTF acted as if other companies could be selected as official electronic chest protector suppliers. Jin-seo YANG, the WTFfs Secretary General, denied the existence of the exclusive contract with LaJUST in his interview with Hankyore21 on June 22 saying, gWe were waiting for the perfect product to come out since the LaJUST products did not meet the WTF standard at that time. The reason for the demonstration was just to show how electronic chest protectors worked and we only used LaJUST products for that. Other companies have a chance to be officially recognized.h What Mr. Yang said is contrary to the details of the exclusive contract. In order to confirm his remarks, Hankyore21 asked the WTFfs President Jeongwon CHO for an interview, but he declined our request with no obvious reasons. Why does the WTF deny the fact that they have signed an exclusive contract with LaJUST? The Electronic Chest Protector International Taekwondo Competition held in Choonchun on 4 March hints at the reasons why the WTF tried to hide the contract. At the competition, the players participated in the matches wearing electronic chest protectors. However, the results were not good. Many defects, such as giving out scores for invalid hits, were revealed in the LaJUST products. The WTF faced public scolding for not overcoming the technical problems. Eventually, the WTF had to postpone the introduction of electronic chest protectors from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to the 2009 World Taekwondo Competition. The WTF may have found it hard to admit that they officially acknowledged LaJUST as their exclusive official electronic protector supplier. Also, the WTF has been accused of ignoring the appropriate process and signing the official contract contrary to WTF regulations. According to WTF regulations, the following steps are needed for an official contract. First, an ad-hoc committee of the WTF examines whether electronic protectors can be used according to taekwondo competition regulations. If the committee members agree on the quality (accuracy of sense-impact level, consecutive impacts, calibration, and differentiation of valid impact and invalid impact), they send them to KISS. KISS then inspects technical parts of the protectors and puts them through a field test. They then hold simulated matches and the committee evaluates the quality and accuracy of the electronic protectors. After that, the WTF can officially recognize the electronic protectors. A WTF staff member said, gWe do not know if KISS properly inspected the electronic protectors, but regardless, the WTF signed the official contract without putting the electronic protectors through a field test.h The WTF representative also said, gthe WTF selected judges in favor of a specific electronic chest protector manufacturer.h According to his explanation, when the ad-hoc committee was first formed in July 2005, it consisted of 7 members. Four out of the seven members decided that the adidasf electronic chest protectors were better than the others presented at the first electronic chest protector demonstration held on 20 July 2005, while the remaining three thought LaJUST products were better. The staff member said, gThen WTF added two more members on 7 February 2006, which overturned the result.h LaJUST passed with 5 for LaJUST and 4 for adidas. As a result, at the second demonstration held on 25 March 2006, five out of the nine judges were in favor of LaJUST, while the other four opted for adidas. In order to confirm the result, Hankyore21 contacted the four judges who are in Korea at the moment. We asked them if they had seen the contract in person and if they had held a field test. None of the four said they had seen the contract. However, their answers about the field test all varied. Soonam PARK, the WTFfs Vice President and the chairman of the committee said, gEven though I am the WTFfs Vice President, I have never seen any electronic chest protector contract. I have not seen any field test held, either.h Jin-bang YANG, Planning Director of the Korea Taekwondo Association said, gI am not sure if a field test has been held or not.h Jong-hak HWANG, a KISS researcher said little, gEverything we do at the moment is through the process of a field test.h Hyun-seop PARK, a Director of Kukkiwon said, gI remember that there was a field test for LaJUST products at the Choonchun Competition.h However, according to the WTFfs eElectronic Protector Diaryf, there is a record of an eElectronic Protector Demonstrationf, but not a field test. Dong Min KIM, Manager of the Competition Department of the WTF said, gIn a field test electronic protectors are tested under the same conditions as in real competition.h He also said, gEven though we did not specify it as a field test, the Choonchun Electronic Protector Competition held on 4 March was a field test.h The problem here is, even though they did carry out the field test on 4 March as Kim said, the contract had already been signed 6 months before. The WTF rejected disclosing the minutes and the evaluation reports of the Electronic Protector ad-hoc committee, which is believed to contain information on the entire process. Jin-seok YANG, the Secretary General, kept saying, gThere was a competition among four companies, and LaJUST received 38 marks, adidas received 36, and other companies received 30, which resulted in our selection of LaJUST.h He also said, gOur internal documents (minutes and evaluation reports) cannot be disclosed.h g9 marks for one kickc how can it be officially recognized?h adidas, who learned about LaJUSTfs exclusive contract later is now lashing back. As to their reaction, the WTFfs Secretary General Jin-Seok YANG said in the 11 June edition of the Taekwondo Newspaper, gadidas has been lobbying and putting improper pressure (on us) to get their products officially recognized,h - a statement which outraged adidas. Although General Secretary Yang said, gIt was an incorrect article,h he never asked for the article to be corrected. Frank MIRE, an adidas director, said in a written interview with Hankyore21, gWhy did (the WTF) give us the right to be inspected by KISS when they already had an exclusive contract?h He also said, gWe have asked the WTF several times to let us know which of their standards our products did not meet, but received no response from them.h He then said, gI heard from several sources that the WTFfs President, Jeongwon CHO, was personally involved in LaJUST business.h adidas is planning to send an official letter to the IOC regarding this matter and ask for an interview with the Chairman of the IOC, Jacques ROGGE. Director Mire also said, gWe will persuade the IOC to postpone this eimportant future decisionf until this matter is resolved.h The important future decision is whether taekwondo will remain an official Olympic sport or not. Currently, taekwondo has been selected as an Olympic sport until the 2012 London Olympics. The problem in the process is not the only reason why adidas was so outraged. It is estimated that the worldfs taekwondo population is around 60 million in 182 countries. About one million out of that population are serious competitors. An electronic chest protector costs about ₩300,000 (Won?), and if every serious competitor buys one, the market size will reach approximately 300 billion Won. Generally, international sport organizations have acknowledged more than one official supplier rather than giving one company exclusive rights. Woon Yong KIM, the former WTF President said, gThere were no exclusive contracts when I was working for the WTF. We officially recognized several companies to manufacture taekwondo uniforms for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 2003, when Woon Yong KIM was with the WTF, LaJUST (called Fairplay at the time) lobbied aggressively in order to have their electronic protector officially acknowledged. Hee-ik Lee, President of the company at that time and the current president of LaJUST, was arrested for offering foreign cars and company credit cards to some people related to the Taekwondo Association.h Kim, the former WTF President said, gElectronic protector companies asked us to officially recognize their products first, but how could we do it when their protector added 9 marks for each kick? It might cause a huge controversy.h This hugely problematic contract of the WTF is not limited to electronic protectors alone. Before the bill for eSelection of Official Uniform Supplierf was passed at the Beijing WTF General Meeting held on 17 June, the WTF signed an official recognition contract with a Hong Kong company called Shark on 26 May. As long as the WTF keeps up its practice of eDonft-Ask Official Contractsf, the future of taekwondo remains gloomy. --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! 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