You can't completely classify it as either because it depends on who you are talking to and what the emphasis is of the school or governing body that you belong to. The WTF directs the majority of its effort towards sporting competitions on both a national and international level. Not all WTF schools, however, focus on the competition aspects of their organization.
Other groups such as the ITF place an emphasis on the more traditional elements, especially self defense. Again, though, you could visit a dozen different ITF schools and see a variety of different focuses. I even hear that some schools in the ITF focus on tournament preparation.
I personally view TKD as both a martial art and a sport and am proud of both of those aspects. My reasons are as follows:
Those that practice TKD as a martial art are going to really instill a lot of the values that are so often associated with traditional martial arts... people are going to learn to be good human beings. I think this is an excellent option for children.
Competition, on the other hand, is going to allow the art to continue to grow and develop. The kickers that are out there today are much better than the kickers who competed 20 years ago. With a constant and growing stable of competitors, its going to force fighters to develop new techniques, new strategies and work on new and different combinations.
Both elements I think are ultimately good for the continued growth of TKD.
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They say TKD is more on sports than MA...
I just like to comment about TKD is now practiced as sports rather than MA coz of competitions like olympics and other stuffs but i really want to see this as an MA coz it has the kicks, the defense system and the value of this art so MA's ter what comes in your mind when they say or talk about TKD is it sports, MA or BOTH??
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