8 – NATIONAL COMPETITION GUIDELINES
1 GENERAL
1.1 The National Competition will normally be held annually in December.
1.2 The organising committee reserves the right to limit the number of entrants, to postpone or to cancel the competition altogether, if it becomes necessary due to any restrictive measures in place or because circumstances will not allow for the competition to be held in an appropriate manner.
2 ADMISSIONS CONDITIONS
2.1 All athletes and coaches participating to the Malta National Competition must be valid members of Malta Taekwondo Association.
2.2 There is no need for the Global Athlete License for athletes nor for the Kyorugi Licence for coaches (though it is recommended).
2.3 All the academies/clubs commit themselves to obtain from their competitors whether senior, juniors, cadets, pewees or kids an authorization of participation at the Malta National Competition. Authorisation to be filled in and signed by parents/guardians if competitor is under 16 years of age.
3 CATEGORIES
3.1 Senior Male and Female 18 years old and over – weight categories
3.1.1 Senior Male: -54kg/-58kg /-63kg/-68kg/-74kg/-80kg/-87kg/+87kg
3.1.2 Senior Female: -46kg/-49kg/-53kg/-57kg/-62kg/-67kg/-73kg/+73kg
3.2 Junior Male and Female 15 years to 17 years old – weight categories
3.2.1 Junior Male: -45kg/-48kg/-51kg/-55kg/-59kg/-63kg/-68kg/-73kg/-78kg/+78kg
3.2.2 Junior Female: -42kg/-44kg/-46kg/-49kg/-52kg/-55kg/-59kg/-63kg/-68kg/+68kg
3.3 Cadet Male and Female 11 years old to 14 years old – weight categories
3.3.1 Cadet Male: -33kg/-37kg/-41kg/-45kg/-49kg/-53kg/-57kg/-61kg/-65kg/+65kg
3.3.2 Cadet Female: -29kg/-33kg/-37kg/-41kg/-44kg/-47kg/-51kg/-55kg/-59kg/+59kg
3.4 Pewees 8 years old to 10 years old – weight categories
3.4.1 PeeWee Male: -24kg/ -26kg/ -29kg/ -32kg/ -36kg/ -40Kg/ -44Kg/ -48kg/ +48kg
3.4.2 PeeWee Female: -24kg/ -26kg/ -29kg/ -32kg/ -36kg/ -40Kg/ -44Kg/ -48kg/ +48kg
3.5 Kids 7 years old and under – weight categories
3.5.1 Kids Male: -18kg/ -20kg/ -22kg/ -24kg/ -26kg/ +26kg
3.5.2 Kids Female: -18kg/ -20kg/ -22kg/ -24kg/ -26kg/ +26kg
3.6 Classes
3.6.1 A Class: 2nd Keup (Red Belt) and above
3.6.2 B Class: 9th Keup (Yellow Tag) to 3rd Keup (Red Tag)
3 7 Drawing of lots and exhibition bouts
3.7.1 The lots will be drawn soon after registration has been closed in the presence of coaches.
3.7.2 The date and location will be communicated by e-mail accordingly.
3.7.3 Exhibition bouts, bouts that include matches of mixed abilities and/or weight categories, will be only approved upon consultation and approval of respective coaches and consent from parents/guardians (if minors). Purpose of exhibition bouts is to give an experience to participating athletes if it is hard to find an opponent in their selected category.
3.8 Other
3.8.1 No headshots will be allowed for Pewees and Kids.
3.8.2 Face shield to be used for cadets.
4 REGISTRATION
4.1 Registration of athletes and up to two (maximum) coaches and one (maximum) official per academy/club are done by sending details to email: info@maltataekwondo.org.mt
4.1.1 Details to be included for athletes are name and surname, ID card/passport number, date of birth, belt rank, and weight category.
4.1.2 Details to be included for coaches and official are name and surname and ID card/passport number.
4.2 Deadline of application will be not less than two weeks ahead of competition.
4.3 Accreditation cards will be issued for athletes, coaches and officials. These cards need to be presented for entrance to fighting/warm-up area. No individual without an accreditation card will be allowed in restricted areas.
4.3.1 Individuals without an accreditation card will be requested to leave the restricted areas. It is also the responsibility of coaches and officials to follow these procedures and make sure that no one without accreditation card from their academy/club will enter restricted areas.
5 REGISTRATION FEES
5.1 Contestants: 35 € per athlete to be paid by deadline date.
5.2 Coaches and Officials: Free of charge
5.2.1 Only two coaches per club are allowed entry in event. Only one club coach is allowed in fighting area at a time. The other coach needs to wait in warm-up area, unless both competing athletes hail from same academy or club.
5.2.2 Only one official per academy/club is allowed in warm-up area. An official cannot enter fighting area (unless he or she is one of the coaches).
5.3 Spectators: Free of charge
5.3.1 The presence of spectators in venue is to the sole discretion of the organising committee.
5.3.2 Spectators will not interfere in any way with the running of the competition and will respect any directions given by the organising committee. Any spectators failing to act in a respectable civil manner will be asked to leave the venue.
6 PAYMENT
6.1 All payments need to be carried out by bank transfer. Academies/clubs are requested to collect all payments on behalf of their members and send one single bank transfer with details ‘Payment for National Competition [Date]’ to the communicated MTA bank account number.
6.2 No refund will occur for registration fees after the deadline. Refunds will be done only for those athletes that no fighting bout was found.
7 EQUIPMENT
7.1 The organizing committee will provide to the participating contestants «DAE DO GEN II» PSS body and head electronics protectors.
7.2 Groin/forearm/shin guards and gloves, mouthpiece, DaeDo sensing socks Gen II, are compulsory and must be brought by the contestant for their personal use.
7.3 Participants are required to wear WT recognized competition uniforms (doboks) and WT recognized protective equipment as per WT competition rules: Article 4-2 to 4-2.5
8 REGISTRATION – TIMETABLE
8.1 Every team must have a delegate to get the accreditation cards for athletes, coaches and official on the indicated date and place communicated by MTA not less than two weeks ahead of competition.
8.2 Weigh-In: Upon presentation of valid identification document, participants will be weigh-in on the indicated date and place communicated by MTA not less than two weeks ahead of competition. An official from the respective academy/club needs to be present.
9 RULES OF COMPETITION
9.1 World Taekwondo competition rules with Video Replay apply.
9.2 Seniors and Juniors 3 rounds of 2 minutes with 60 seconds’ break.
9.3 Cadets 3 rounds of 1.5 minutes with 45 seconds’ break.
9.4 Pewees 3 rounds of 1 minute with 45 seconds’ break.
9.5 Only the Head of the team is allowed to protest, immediately (within 10 minutes) after the end of the contest. An amount of €40.00 will have to be paid for each protest. The decision of the Head Referee is final.
9.6 The use of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods is strictly forbidden. Details of the current list of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods are available on request from the MTA or from WADA. Competitors, who are taking medication and in doubt as to their clinical status, should seek advice from the MTA not later than 21 days before the start of the competition. Any competitor infringing this condition, or if asked to do so, failing to take a test,
will be disqualified and subject to other sanctions.
10 COMPETION SCHEDULE (Example)
The competition will normally be held on a Saturday in December. The event place and time will be advised by the organising committee well ahead of the event. The normal schedule will be as follows:
07:30 am: Admissions
08:30 am: Meeting with Coaches and Referees
08:45 am - 05:00 pm: Events preliminary and finals
05:15 pm: Award Ceremony
11 AWARDS
11.1 To all winners of 1st place, rewards will be awarded.
11.2 To all participants a certificate will be issued of participation.
12 LIABILITY
12.1 By registering for the Malta National Competition all contestants and representatives, (academy/club officials and parents) thereof, accept the rules and conditions of participation set by the organizing committee including WT standard rules, MTA code of ethics (MTA Bylaw 6) and disciplinary code (MTA Bylaw 7).
12.2 Academies/clubs are responsible for the ethical behaviour of their coaches, officials, competitors, and competitors’ parents/guardians. The respective academy/club will bear responsibility and answer for the behaviour of their own participants or individuals.
12.3 All contestants will participate at their own risk. Under no circumstances can the organising committee be held responsible for any loss or damage to individuals or equipment.
12.4 All the academies/clubs commit themselves to obtain from their competitors Juniors, Cadets and Pewees a parental authorization of participation at the Malta National Competition.
13
GENERAL DATA PROTECTION.
Kindly refer to MTA Bylaw 10 as regards to processing of data as well as MTA application forms for media coverage and consent.
14
HEALTH MATTERS INFORMATION
14.1 Each representative Coach is responsible to check their own participants’ health and must advise participant not to attend or ask to leave the premises if the contestant’s wellbeing or that of others is being jeopardised. It will also be the derogatory of any MTA official to, at his or her own discretion, after advising respective coach or official, to ask participant to leave competition area if such health issues are noticed.
14.2 Club coaches are responsible to carry out basic hygiene protocols such as having each participant having their own guards, towels and water bottles. NO sharing of personal equipment will be allowed. No purchase of equipment will be provided on the day. It is the responsibility of each individual to have one’s own full set of guards on the day.
14.3 MTA Officials/Volunteers will clean and sanitize all PSS equipment (head guards and chest guard), each time that they are used and brought back to inspection table.
14.4 Club coaches are required to pick up PSS chest Guard and PSS Head Guard at the inspection table. Club coaches are responsible to bring back at once, after every match, used PSS guards to inspection table for sanitization by MTA Officials/Volunteers.
14.5 Only holders of official accreditation will be allowed in restricted areas. An individual found with no official accredited pass will be asked to leave the restricted areas with no questions asked. Academies/clubs will be held responsible for their members’ actions.
14.6 An adequate number of trash bins will be placed around the hall. It is the responsibility of all that no trash (including water bottles, napkins and tissues) be left around but instantly thrown in the trash bins.
14.7 Other specific health requirements, as for example those associated with the COVID pandemic, will be communicated in advance of the event and every participant will be required to abide with the announced protocols.
