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Sports

Taekwon do

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Taekwon do

Taekwon do is a Korean martial art with a heavy emphasis on kicks. Taekwondo was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by various Korean martial artists, as a blend of the indigenous Korean fighting styles of taekkyeon, gwonbeop, and subak, with influence from foreign martial arts, such as Karate and Chinese martial arts.

Taekwon do is characterised by its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques.

Taekwon do ranks are typically separated into junior and "senior" sections. The junior section typically consists of ten ranks indicated by the Korean word geup. The junior ranks are usually identified by belts of various colors, depending on the school, so these ranks are sometimes called colour belts. Geup rank may be indicated by stripes on belts rather than by colored belts. Students begin at tenth geup (often indicated by a white belt) and advance toward first geup (often indicated by a red belt with a black stripe). The color belts in Taekwon do are white, white yellow, yellow, yellow green, green, green blue, blue, blue red, red and red black.