Taekwondo (태권도; IPA: /ˈteɪˈkwɒnˈdoʊ/) is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. It is also regarded as the world’s most popular martial art in terms of number of practitioners. Kyeorugi, or sparring, is an official Olympic sporting event. In Korean, tae 태 跆 means “foot”; kwon 권 拳 means “fist”; and do 도 道 means “way”; so taekwondo is loosely translated as “the way of the fist and foot”.
Taekwondo’s popularity has resulted in the varied evolution of the martial art into several domains: as with many other arts, it combines combat techniques, self-defense, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy. Taekwondo is also used by the South Korean military as part of its training.
Traditional taekwondo is typically not competition-oriented but stems from military roots with much emphasize on offense. Modern Taekwondo, on the other hand, tends to emphasize control and self-defense. Formally, there are two main styles of taekwondo. One comes from the Kukkiwon, the source of the sparring system shihap kyeorugi which is now an event at the summer Olympic Games and which is governed by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), the other comes from the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), which was founded by General Choi Hong Hi, sometimes called the father of taekwondo.
Although there are doctrinal and technical differences between the two main styles and among the various organizations, the art in general emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, employing the leg’s greater reach and power (compared to the arm). Taekwondo training generally includes a system of blocks, kicks, punches, and open-handed strikes and may also include various take-downs or sweeps, throws, and joint locks.
quotes from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taekwondo
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