Summerlands Taekwondo have returned to action in their latest competitive weekend.

Following on from the end of the Tokyo Olympics 2020, The World Taekwondo Federation chose to review and amend their current rules to bring about a major rule change on the 1st June 2022.

Consequently, Summerlands competitors were thrust into their first competition since the rule changes, making for an exciting, yet unpredictable day.

Having previously had to fight three rounds and win based on accumulated points scored, the new rules state that the winner would be determined on a ‘Best of 3 rounds’ format, whereby points are tallied up in each round and the competitor with the most points would be the winner of that particular round.

Therefore, the first competitor to win two rounds, would then be deemed the winner.

Taking a small team of 5: Harry Westmorland, Mya Lightley, Jaidyn Livesey, Clarke Benson and Georgie Colvan, the team battled their way through all their designated fights (some having 3 fights in the day) to all make it to the finals.

Coming away with 3 Golds (from Mya Lightley, Jaidyn Livesey and Clarke Benson and 2 Silvers from Harry Westmorland and Georgie Colvan) the team have shown their adaptability and willingness to challenge themselves and have managed to overcome these to achieve some impressive results.

Ryan Lightley, Lead instructor and Head Coach at Summerlands said: “After each Olympic cycle, the WTF always review their rules and policies to assess what worked well and what didn’t and consequently these rules have now been implemented as a result.

"Any transition is always going be difficult when you are familiar with doing things a certain way but I think the ‘Best of 3’ format worked well for us and along with some of the other implemented rules (such as winning a round if fighters accumulate a 12 point gap), benefited out fighters, as they were able to finish the fight sooner than they’d previously done, which ultimately conserved their energy ready for their next fight and made for a more exciting and engaging competition.

"I will definitely be interested to see how these new rule changes impact the competition circuits and am confident that our members will take it all in their stride as they have previously done, to hopefully continue their success."