Skilled fighters are emerging from so many countries that the taekwondo tournament at next year's Beijing Olympics could be the most open ever, the head of the sport's world governing body said.

Choue Chungwon, president of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) since 2004, said that last week's world championships in Beijing had thrown up some stunning surprises, not least men's heavyweight champion Daba Modibo Keita of Mali.

Europe and Asia could turn out to be medal hotspots at the Games if the world championships are any guide to form with gold going to Croatia and Spain, while the growing popularity of the sport in China could mean big wins for the home nation.

"There really is no guessing which countries will win gold in Beijing. It's going to be a really open competition," Choue said in an interview with Reuters.

"In the Sydney Olympics and the Athens Games the medals were distributed between 16 and 18 countries. But at the Beijing world championships this month the medal distribution was fantastic -- 26 countries received gold, silver or bronze."

Choue said the WTF was working hard to make sure that taekwondo remains an Olympic sport after the 2012 Games in London. Its status is reviewed in 2009 and survival to the 2016 Olympics will ensure its current reach to world audiences.

However, Olympic style taekwondo is often criticised for its fighters' passivity. With no hand strikes allowed to the face, evenly-matched fighters often bob in front of each other waiting for an opening.

Although passivity is penalised, high-stakes medal fights are often decided in the blink of an eye after minutes of apparent inaction.

"I've told our technical committee it can do anything to make the sport more interesting. At the moment the mat is square, they're even thinking of having a round mat which would give more room for the athletes to attack," said Choue.

Electronic chest protectors would be used to enhance the accuracy of scoring but one of the WTF's biggest pushes will be to update referee training and selection to head off criticism of bias and incompetence.

"We plan to invite 300 referees from all over the world and to have a special intensive referee education programme. After that we will select 50 out of the 300 and this 50 will move around with Olympic qualification rounds," said Choue.

"After that we will select 29 international referees for the Beijing Olympic Games."

(China Daily via Agencies May 31, 2007)