# Sport Karate



## Manny (Feb 20, 2013)

A karate sensei (Shotokan) friend of mine shome in facebook a videclip of a karate final match and I liked but have some questions.

I saw impecable karatekas fighting with very clean technikes, using spedd and acuracy but very light contact is it this way? Also I see only one kick landed (with no score) and two attemp of kicks. All the points were by punches. How many points scores a punch and how many points scores a kick?

The match point was win by a swept followed a reverse punch.

Why having karate so many hand techs only the punch/fist is used to score? How is the ratio of punches vs kikcks used in competition?

Here you have the fight.......   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=166781056683725

Manny


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## K-man (Feb 20, 2013)

Manny, there are different rules for scoring in different competitions. Normally though a kick will just score the same as punch if it is deemed to be effective. Just touching something with you foot, as sometimes happens in TKD, will not score.
This link will give you a little bit more info ..

http://www.martialviews.com/2011/01/karate-point-fighting.html

:asian:


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## ralphmcpherson (Feb 20, 2013)

K-man said:


> Manny, there are different rules for scoring in different competitions. Normally though a kick will just score the same as punch if it is deemed to be effective. Just touching something with you foot, as sometimes happens in TKD, will not score.
> This link will give you a little bit more info ..
> 
> http://www.martialviews.com/2011/01/karate-point-fighting.html
> ...


Other than maybe some itf competitions, I doubt you would see light kicks score very often in tkd. The electronic hogus are set to not score without good force and tkd comps are full contact. In almost all tkd sparring light contact will never score.


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## K-man (Feb 20, 2013)

ralphmcpherson said:


> Other than maybe some itf competitions, I doubt you would see light kicks score very often in tkd. The electronic hogus are set to not score without good force and tkd comps are full contact. In almost all tkd sparring light contact will never score.


Sadly my experience of TKD sparring is pretty much what they showed of the Olympics on TV.     :idunno:


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## Grenadier (Feb 21, 2013)

Punches have a much higher chance of scoring because they are faster.  

Kicks do score, and if you land a kick to the body or the head, you're going to get higher amounts of points (2 or 3) compared to the single point from a punch, so it all balances out in the end.  

Regarding the "light contact" mentioned, the technique thrown must still be a strong technique.  If it lands on the surface in a controlled manner (not going through the opponent), and if the attacker has demonstrated a vigorous technique, awareness, etc., then from a sporting point of view, it's a perfectly valid technique.  

It takes no real extra effort for that same skilled attacker to simply aim that punch or kick several inches beyond the surface.  The competitor has already demonstrated that if he wanted to, he could have inflicted a serious blow that would have caused significant damage. 

That being said, a lot of those alleged "light contact" punches and kicks are going to hit the body pretty solidly, even with excellent control.  A well trained Karate-Ka should be able to absorb a fair number of those blows to the body when applied with the pads.  

Half-hearted sparring, though, will result in techniques that will never score, if you have good judges.


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## Manny (Feb 21, 2013)

K-man said:


> Sadly my experience of TKD sparring is pretty much what they showed of the Olympics on TV.     :idunno:



My experience sparring is WTF TKD too.... however that's a game that I play inside the dojang, for that matter I practice self defense techkikes  where I grab, poke, elbow knee,stomp... or what ever.

Something I like to do when performing one steps is afther I grab my oponent and drag him to the ground I finish with a heavy stomp  kick to the rib cage (controed) aimed to beajk the entire rib cage instead of for example kneeling and drop a punch to the head.

But we are talking about sport sparring not self defense.

TKD free sparring is full contact with heavy safety equip where punches are not allowed to the face and sweeps are not allowed, karate free sparring is light contact with safety gloves where punches to the head  and sweeps are allowed. 

Which one is better? I think no one has advantage to the other, they simply are in some points alike but in others completly diferent.

Manny


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## OldKarateGuy (Feb 25, 2013)

Regarding the question in your original post, they are using JKA rules. Usually, in prelim matches, any clean, decisive technique is awarded "ippon" (1 point) and the match is over. A score, but not felt to be decisive (one punch, one kill...that kind of thing=decisive) is awarded waza ari (1/2 point). 2 waza ari equal a single Ippon, and win a match. Typically, in the finals (or semi's) on dan divisions, those are doubled, so 2 Ippon, 4 waza ari or a combination to 2 points win. There is no benefit or advantage in scoring to either hand or foot. Same score for either.
Scoring techniques must demonstrate control and limited contact, but also show that the competitor could have extended the technique causing real damage, "decisive", so punches must be pulled but could have been hammered had the attacker so desired. This is also true of kicks, so you might not see very many kicks because they are slower to develop (for most of us), and are harder to control (so, a risk of hitting too hard and DQ). Plus, in JKA rules, you can usually grab. Maybe not hold on, but definitely grab for a short time. So, kicking legs or uniforms get grabbed and the kicker dumped. Maybe, in the video, the judges didn't award a point or 1/2 point for the kicks because they felt the kicks were too short, or could not have landed a decisive strike, or perhaps they were slipped or evaded which couldn't been seen well on video. (I can't see any of the video. Something wrong with my plug-in). 
As for contact, in the black belt divisions, you might be allowed one heavy strike if it looks accidental. A second will cause you to be DQ'd. If you go back and watch some JKA matches 15 -20 years ago, you'll see some serious knock-outs. The rules are now enforced about light contact to prevent injury. Remember, though, a technique is worthless if the judges feel it could not have been landed with serious impact but was not because the competitor had control. JKA tends to reward counters, and you will see competitors trying to goad each other into a first attack. Speed is all. I'd guess (in my personal experience) more than half the scores are reverse punch. Simple, right to the point. This penalizes kickers most of the time, although you will see serious kick exchanges now and then. By the way, sweeps are permitted, and I would argue that many of the sweeps are really kicks - very hard fast kicks, but not intended to score of themselves. You knock the opponent down with a leg sweep, and then score Ippon with a hand or foot strike to the prone body. The knock down itself has no scoring value, but merely sets up a strike to a vital area. 
Hope this helps.
So, with all respect to any TKD or other kick-centric styles, if you are allowed to grab a foot or pants leg, you might not see so many kicks, especially high ones.


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