16/09/2026
Sparring takes center stage at the 10th ITF Taekwon-Do World Cup 2026!
The classic sparring competition constitutes the foundation of the entire tournament. In individual bouts, exactly 2242 entries were recorded, which accounts for 42.25% of all 5306 entries in solo events. Parallel to this, 154 squads registered for the tournament in classic team sparring.
In the individual classification, men maintain a clear frequency advantage, generating 1315 entries, which constitutes 58.65% of the entire field. Women, on the other hand, recorded 927 entries, reaching a 41..35% share. Dividing all 2242 individual sparring entries into age groups shows that cadets (12–14 years old) with 635 starts provide 28.32% of the total. The junior group (15–17 years old) is the most numerous and gathers 709 entries, achieving a 31.62% share. Seniors (18–35 years old) generated 643 entries, or 28.68%. Older competitors, namely younger veterans (36–45 years old), registered 134 times (5.98%), and older veterans (46+ years old) added 121 starts, which accounts for 5.40% of the total.
Analyzing the distribution within the male group itself, which counts 1315 starts, the 12–14 age category accounts for 26.46% with 348 entries. The 15–17 age bracket includes 416 fights, or 31.63% of the male bracket. The 18–35 age group represents 383 starts and a 29.13% representation. The 36–45 category has 82 entries (6.24%), and the 46+ age group generated 86 registrations, constituting 6.54%. Among the 927 female entries, the youngest 12–14 category gathers 287 starts, which gives a 30.96% share in the women's part of the competition. In the 15–17 age group, 293 fights were registered, which is 31.61%, and for senior women aged 18–35, 260 starts resulted in a share of 28.05%. Female veterans from the 36–45 age group signed up for 52 fights (5.61%), and those over 46 years old did so 35 times, closing the list with a result of 3.78%.
Moving on to traditional team sparring, among the 154 teams, as many as 103 male teams were recorded, giving them a massive advantage at the level of 66.88%. Female squads formed 51 teams, accounting for the remaining 33.12%. Looking at these 154 teams in terms of age, most of them compete in the 15–17 junior category – 53 teams, which is 34.42% of the total. Cadets aged 12–14 created 46 teams and achieved a 29.87% share, while seniors (18–35 years old) fielded 44 teams with a result of 28.57%. Veteran groups rarely form sparring teams: the 46+ category brought together 7 squads (4.55%), and the 36–45 age group fielded the fewest, with only 4 teams (2.60%).
The breakdown of the 103 male teams shows 29 youngest cadet squads, translating to 28.16% of the male field. Juniors account for 37 teams (35.92%), seniors built 27 formations (26.21%), and veterans aged 36–45 and 46+ represent 3 (2.91%) and 7 teams (6.80%), respectively. Looking at the 51 female teams, cadets formed 17 teams with a share of 33.33%, while juniors account for 16 squads (31.37%), and adult seniors registered 17 formations (33.33%). Female veterans managed to form only 1 team in the 36–45 age group (1.96%) and not a single squad for competitors over 46 years old (0.00%).
Three key sports trends emerge from the presented statistics. The first trend is the dominance of the junior category (15–17 years old), which drives participation throughout the tournament, generating the highest absolute percentages – 31.62% of all individual entries and 34.42% of the squads in team competition.
The second phenomenon is a clear gender disparity growing with age in favor of men. In cadets under 14, women make up a substantial 45.20% of individual competition, but in the 46+ category, their percentage drops drastically to 28.93%, and furthermore, no teams were fielded in the oldest female veterans' group. The third trend highlights the specific nature of veterans, who eagerly participate in solo fights (over 11% of all individual entries) but almost entirely avoid classic team confrontations, gathering a combined total of only 11 out of 154 possible squads (7.14%) in both older categories, which suggests significant health or organizational barriers when building multi-person teams after the age of 36.
photo: KAZIK
