Tae Kwon Do gears up for Seoul Olympics

Press, 24 February 1988, Page 32

Tae Kwon Do gears up for Seoul Olympics

By MALCOLM CONDIE The Korean art of selfdefence, Tae Kwon Do, has become very popular in Christchurch recently, and most of its popularily has been due to Master Joon Hyn Lee, of Korea.

Lee has been teaching Tae Kwon Do, as a sport, in Christchurch since February, 1986, and has already expanded in the city to have five clubs. He is also teaching the sport in Timaru and centres even further south. In the South Island he has a total of 15 clubs.

As well as teaching the sport Lee is also coach to New Zealand teams which travel to compete in international competitions throughout the world. He has just returned from Teheran where an eight member team from New Zealand competed in an inaugural international 10-day "Dawn” tournament earlier in the month.

As a sixth dan black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Lee is one of the most experienced in New Zealand at the sport. He came to New Zealand in December, 1982, and worked with the Tae Kwon Do Federation in Wellington. He then moved to Gisborne for two years where he ran three clubs. He moved to Timaru in 1985 and finally settled in Christchurch where he runs several clubs with steadily growing membership. Before coming to New Zealand, Lee worked in Korea, again with Tae

Kwon Do. Having worked with the sport for 18 years, the South Korean Government employed him to teach the police and army personnel the art of Tae Kwon Do. As a sport, Tae Kwon Do emphasises safetyTournament rules are very strict in the use of body pads protecting the torso, arms and legs. Unlike boxing, no punching is permitted to the head. According to Lee, the sport is based around 80 per cent kicking and 20

per cent punching. No holding is permitted. As well as Tae Kwon Do, Lee has a black belt in Hap Ki Do, a much more brutal martial art which involves . special holds and twisting of limbs as was demonstrated on this reporter. On March 6, in Lower Hutt, the national ' Tae Kwon Do championships will be held and from these a team for the Asian Tae Kwon Do championships will be picked. These championships

will be in Nepal from March 23 to 27. Eight men and eight women will represent New Zealand. As well as these championships a team is still to be picked for the Seoul Olympics later in the year. Lee will be taking the team, of four women, back to his home country for the Olympics. Tae Kwon Do, this year, is only a demonstration sport. There are 108 countries in the world that practise

Tae Kwon Do, but the international federation chose only 24 that could compete at Seoul. Of those 24 some were permitted to send only women’s or men’s teams. New Zealand was allowed to send only four women and officials. ”■ Because there are more than 5000 people in New Zealand who practise the sport, either as a means of defence, or seriously, competition will be fierce for tjfe few places avaiF able for the Olympics.