The analysis of techniques used in an international taekwondo tournament

Competition analyses provide an understanding of sports disciplines' competitive requirements while establishing criteria for efficient training sessions. The purpose of this research is to conduct a technical and tactical analysis of an international taekwondo tournament. The research group consists of 120 male athletes competing in the 2023 Rome GP Taekwondo tournament in the weight categories of <58kg (n=27), 58-68kg (n=31), 68-80kg (n=32), and >80kg (n=30). The video recordings of the tournament (n=99) were accessed from the WTF's publicly available website. The data on the Number of Attacks (AS), Counterattacks (KAS), Kicks to the Head (KUTS), Kicks to the Chest (GUTS), Punches to the Chest (GUYS), and Penalty Points (CPS) applied by the athletes during the matches were recorded by two researchers who hold a 2nd Dan black belt in Taekwondo and a WTF-approved Coaching certificate. The data were analyzed using SPSS (25.0) and Jamovi software packages. The Kappa coefficient between observers was above 0.70 for all variables, indicating that the observations were reliable (AS=0.87; KAS=0.81; KUTS=0.94; GUTS=0.92; GUYS=0.95; CPS=0.96). While the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that the data did not follow a normal distribution, the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H Test were used to compare dependent variables based on winning-losing status and weight categories. The Bonferroni test compared weight categories that showed statistically significant differences. The significance level was set at p<0.05. A statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was found between the KUTS and GUTS scores of winning and losing athletes. In contrast, no statistically significant differences were found in the AS, KAS, GUYS, and CPS scores. Comparisons based on weight categories revealed significant differences in AS, KAS, and GUTS scores among the weight categories. In contrast, no significant differences were found in KUTS, GUYS, and CPS scores (p<0.05). In the TKD GP tournament, KUTS and GUTS scores were identified as the determining factors for winning a match; the >80kg weight category performed fewer attacks compared to other categories, and the 80kg category applied more kicks to the chest (GUT) compared to different categories. In conclusion, the study revealed that winning athletes' effective use of head kicks (KUTS) was the most critical factor in securing victory. Furthermore, kicks to the chest (GUTS) were also associated with a high success rate, indicating that focusing on these two techniques in training programs provides a strategic advantage for achieving victory