How the taekwondo world ranking works
Why does a taekwondo Olympic champion get 200 points, but a winner of a small open tournament only 10?
Because every WT event has a grade, and the grade sets the points. A G1 event gives 10 points to the winner; a G4 event, 40; the World Championships (G14), 140; the Olympic Games (G20), 200. The runner-up gets 60 per cent of the winner's points and a bronze medallist 60 per cent of that. Each place below gets a share of the one above.
There are two rankings. One is for the eight weights WT uses at its own events. The other is for the four Olympic weights, and adds up points from the matching world weight and the ones on either side of it.
Points count in full for a year and at half value for a second year. Then they are gone. A new list comes out at the start of every month.
For Indian athletes, the Asian Championships and the Asian Games are G4 events (40 points to the winner), and they are not limited by the cap on smaller events.
The one thing to remember: in taekwondo, which event you win matters more than how many you win.
The grades
| Grade | Events |
|---|---|
| G20 | Olympic Games |
| G14 | World Taekwondo Championships |
| G10 | WT Grand Prix Final |
| G6 | WT Grand Prix Series; Youth Olympic Games |
| G4 | Women's Open Championships; continental championships; continental multi-sport games (such as the Asian Games); World Junior Championships; World Under-21 Championships; World University Games |
| G3 | WT President's Cup (from 2025) |
| G2 | WT G2 tournaments; Grand Prix Challenge; CISM World Games; continental junior championships; Grand Slam Challenge |
| G1 | WT G1 tournaments; World University Championships; other multi-sport games; World Military Championships |
WT publishes each year's grades in December.
The points
The winner gets 10 points per grade. Second gets 60 per cent of first, third 60 per cent of second, fifth 60 per cent of third, and every place below that 70 per cent of the one above.
| Place | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | G6 | G10 (GP Final) | G14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 10.00 | 20.00 | 30.00 | 40.00 | 60.00 | 100.00 | 140.00 |
| 2nd | 6.00 | 12.00 | 18.00 | 24.00 | 36.00 | 60.00 | 84.00 |
| 3rd | 3.60 | 7.20 | 10.80 | 14.40 | 21.60 | 36.00 | 50.40 |
| 5th | 2.16 | 4.32 | 6.48 | 8.64 | 12.96 | 15.12 | 30.24 |
| 9th | 1.51 | 3.02 | 4.54 | 6.05 | 9.07 | 10.58 | 21.17 |
| 17th | 1.06 | 2.12 | 3.18 | 4.23 | 6.35 | 7.41 | 14.82 |
The Grand Prix Final has a 4th place (21.60). The Olympic Games, with repechage, give 200, 120, 72 (bronze), 43.20 (5th), 30.24 (7th), 21.17 (9th), 14.82 (11th) and 10.37 (12th or 17th).
Small fields. In G1 to G3 events an athlete must win at least one match to score (a bye or an opponent's disqualification does not count). Where fewer than eight athletes compete in a weight at G1 to G4, the winner gets the runner-up's points, and so on down. A weight with fewer than four athletes, or an event with fewer than four countries, does not count.
Two rankings
World weight ranking: eight weights per gender, points in the weight competed in.
Olympic weight ranking: four weights per gender, each adding up three world weights.
| Olympic weight | World weights counted |
|---|---|
| Men −58 kg | −54, −58, −63 kg |
| Men −68 kg | −63, −68, −74 kg |
| Men −80 kg | −74, −80, −87 kg |
| Men +80 kg | −80, −87, +87 kg |
| Women −49 kg | −46, −49, −53 kg |
| Women −57 kg | −53, −57, −62 kg |
| Women −67 kg | −62, −67, −73 kg |
| Women +67 kg | −67, −73, +73 kg |
Athletes declare one Olympic weight each year between 1 and 25 May, for events from 1 June to 31 May. Changing weight brings only the points from the overlapping world weight.
The cap on smaller events
Points from G1 to G4 events count towards the Olympic weight ranking only up to a cap: 20 points from 1 June to 31 December 2026, 40 in 2027 and 20 from 1 January to 31 May 2028. Not capped: the Women's Open Championships, continental championships, continental multi-sport games, World Junior Championships, the President's Cup for an athlete's own continent, the Grand Prix Challenge and continental junior championships.
Time
Rankings run in two-year cycles from 1 June. A result is added in the next month's ranking, halved after 12 months, and removed after 24. At the July reset that starts a new cycle, all points from the old cycle go. For LA28, the Olympic qualification ranking period is 1 June 2026 to 31 May 2028.
Ties
At seeding, the athlete whose points came from the higher-graded events ranks higher; if still level, a draw decides. All ranked athletes are seeded at WT events, including the Olympic Games.
A worked example
Made up to show the arithmetic. An athlete in the women's −49 kg Olympic weight, in the 2026-28 cycle: Asian Games bronze (G4, 14.40), a World Championships fifth (G14, 30.24), two Grand Prix ninths (G6, 9.07 each) and a G2 title (20.00, inside the cap). Total: 14.40 + 30.24 + 9.07 + 9.07 + 20.00 = 82.78. A year later, each of these is halved.
Where to see it
worldtaekwondo.org, rankings, at the start of each month.
Variations
| Ranking | Covered here |
|---|---|
| Senior kyorugi, world and Olympic weights | Yes |
| Juniors and Youth Olympic Games medals | Partly: they give senior points (60, 40 or 20 to the winner) from age 17 |
| Poomsae | No |
| Para taekwondo | No: World Para Taekwondo Ranking Bylaw (March 2025), its own page |