Choi Yeon-ho

Choi Yeon-ho

Medal record
Representing South Korea
Men’s taekwondo
World Junior Championships
	1998 Istanbul	Flyweight
World Championships
	2001 Jeju	Finweight
	2003 Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Finweight
	2007 Beijing	Finweight
	2009 Copenhagen	Finweight
World Cup
	2006 Bangkok	Flyweight
Asian Games
	2006 Seognam	Finweight
	2008 Henan	Finweight

Choi Yeon-Ho (born May 4, 1981) is a South Korean taekwondo practitioner.

He is a four-time world finweight (-54 kg) champion, and won gold in flyweight (-58 kg) at the 2006 World Cup Taekwondo. However, he has not participated in any Olympics yet, since South Korea does not send an athlete in the -58 kg class.

Road to Gyeongju World Taekwondo Championships 2011

Fin weight (-54kg) leading star Choi Yeon-Ho (KOGAS) was defeated absurdly due to a PSS error even though he actually won in the game. Male fin weight division (-54kg) at the “Final National Qualification Tournament for the 2011 Gyongju World Taekwondo Championships” held on March 13th in Kosong, Gyeongnam. Choi Yeon-Ho, 4 times World Champion star was fighting against rookie Park Ji-Woong (BooHeung High School) the last combat for qualifying to the National Team. If only Choi had won this fight he could have challenged the title for the 5th time. Choi is considered the best in male fin weight, but his opponent Park was not an easy rival. The third round ended without a single point being scored in a combat full of tension. Only the sudden death overtime was left. Then, the organizerinterrupted the game. The reason was that while revising the match records, the record staff from the Competition Organizing Committee found out that in both the 1st and 2nd rounds, Choi had received one valid point each round, which had not been displayed in the electronic scoreboard. Choi Yeon-Ho’s kicks exceeded the minimum level and on the computer record they were indicated as valid points with a “P” but they were not reflected in the scoreboard. If the score had been reflected normally, Choi Yeon-Ho would have won 2-0 after the third round. The competition organizer held a meeting to discuss a solution to the problem. After one hour they concluded that they would “admit the 2 valid points until the second round and repeat the rest of the fight”. Both Choi’s KOGAS and Park’s BooHeung accepted the resolution and the rematch started. In a continued tight fight in the third round, Park succeeded in obtaining 2 points by two consecutive trunk attacks. 2-2. Eventually, they had to go to overtime after the third round. Park Ji-Woong had luck in the overtime. He succeeded in a lucky “dollyo chagi” that gave him a point, and the victory. Even though Choi had respected the Competition Organizing Committee’s decision and accepted to repeat the last part of the game, he could not hide a sentiment of unfairness. KOGAS Park Jong-Man coach spared his words without concealing his discontent about the electronic protector. LaJust staff said “it is the first time we encounter a problem like this one, therefore we still do not know the exact causes”, regarding the problem of the electronic protector that had caused the result to reverse. However, in that situation it was difficult to assure whether it was the first time something like that had happened. Actually according to a person of the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA), “After revising the data from the 47 fights held yesterday, there were many errors similar to Choi’s case”. In reference to this, KTA’s event manager Kim Moo Cheon, said “at present we cannot make public all the problems that have arisen, but if the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) makes an official request, we can pass them all information regarding the problems of LaJUST electronic protectors, including this competition’s results”. LaJUST, the electronic protector that has caused this problem, is expected to be used in May at the next 2011 Gyeongju World Taekwondo Championships. Furthermore, it is very likely to be used at the London Olympic Games next year, at present, since the WTF recommended LaJUST to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). The KTA has used LaJUST for several years and is seriously pointing out this system’s problems more than any other federation. Most of the people from the KTA Technical Committee still hold that “If LaJUST is used at the Olympic Games, serious problems can arise”.