International Taekwondo Federation

One of the two major Taekwondo organisations, the other being the World Taekwondo Federation or WTF. The International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) was founded on March 22, 1966, by General Choi Hong Hi, who developed Taekwondo, to promote the teaching of this martial art.

At that time, nine countries were involved: Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, West Germany, USA, Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. Taekwon-Do is now taught in almost every country in the world, and General Choi is recognized as the father of ITF Taekwondo.

When General Choi died on the 15th June 2002, Mr Russell McClellan became the acting president of the organisation. The current president is Master Trân Triêu Quân who was elected in June 2003.

Patterns

Patterns or forms (equivalent to the kata in karate) are considered by many to be one of the most important aspects of training in Taekwondo. The patterns practised by members of the ITF are very different from those performed by the WTF, forming one of the major differences between the two styles.

There are 24 patterns in the official ITF syllabus, all of which were developed by General Choi. The names of these patterns are as follows

Chon-Ji Dan-Gun Do-San Won-Hyo Yul-Gok Joong-Gun Toi-Gye Hwa-Rang Choong-Moo Kwang-Gae Po-Eun Ge-Baek Eui-Am Choong-Jang Juche Sam-il Yoo-Sin Choi-Yong Yong-Gae Ul-Ji Moon-Moo So-San Se-Jong Tong-Il

Originally there was another pattern called Kodang but this has been replaced by Juche in the current official syllabus of the ITF.

External links

• first official website
• second official wesite
• third official webstie