Korea and China grabbed the men's and women's title, respectively, at the 2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships in Santa Cruz, Aruba on Nov. 25, 2012.
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In the men's division, Korea showed its supremacy as it defeated Iran 27-11 in the final match for top honors, drawing big applause from spectators. Korea reached the final round as it beat Spain 21-18 in a semifinal match, while Iran came from behind to beat China to advance to the final round.
China needed a third sudden-death round to brush aside a stiff challenge from France in the final match for the top honors. China advanced to the final match as it beat Croatia 17-15 in a semifinal match. France reached the women's final match by beating Russia 21-9 in a semifinal match.
Ms. Zhang Hun of China was chosen as the female MVP and Mr. Young Jin Kim of China was named as the best coach in the women's division. Korea's Kyeo-re Han was picked as the male MVP and Mr. Kye Hee Park was chosen as the best coach in the men's division.
Best Referee Awards went to Mr. Jorge Reynoso of Mexico, Mr. Mokake Moshoeshoe of Lesotho and Ms. Renata Crkvenac of Croatia.
At the three-day World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships, which took place at the Centro Deportivo gymnasium in Santa Cruz, a Daedo Protector and Scoring System (PSS) was used. The team competition was composed of two rounds of five minutes. The second round was a tag match. A team consisted of five athletes and one substitute.
The event drew 90 male athletes from 13 countries and 69 female athletes from 10 countries.
The 13 countries were host Aruba, Iran, Korea, Spain, Russia, Egypt, Venezuela, Chinese Taipei, Dominican Republic, the United States, Brazil, Uzbekistan and China. The male teams were divided into four groups, of which the best two teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinal round after round-robin preliminaries. Host Aruba, Iran, Korea and Spain were seeded.
The 10 countries, which sent their female athletes to Aruba, were Korea, China, France, Venezuela, Brazil, Croatia, Russia, Colombia, Chinese Taipei and the United States. The female groups were divided into three groups. Korea, China and France were seeded.
At the same venue, the 3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships were held to a great success, drawing 53 para-athletes from 14 countries.
