Plans to hold the event virtually were formed after the 2020 World Championships in Denmark were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Only elite athletes would have competed had that event gone ahead in Herning in May, but the virtual competition will also be open to "taewkondo enthusiasts".

As poomsae is a non-contact discipline, competitors do not need to be in the same room and can perform from their own homes, submitting their entries through video.

Two competition categories will be held, with the Online WT G2 Poomsae Championships open only to individual athletes who are members of their national team.

This will feature 14 categories, with 12 in recognised poomsae and two in freestyle.

Men and women will compete in age groups from under-30 through to over-65 in the recognised poomsae, while freestyle poomsae will have men's and women's over-17 age groups only.  

The Open Poomsae Championships, meanwhile, is available to "family members of all ages in pairs and teams" and has seven categories.

Events will include family pair, where the participants must be from the same family but of two different generations. 

Family teams A will comprise of three family members of two different generations and family teams B will consist of three family members of three different generations. 

There will also be male and female cadet and junior categories in this class.

"We first discussed the idea of hosting an official Online World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in May in order to continue providing opportunities for athletes and fans to compete and practice taekwondo despite the COVID-19 pandemic," said World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue. 

"After months of preparation, we are delighted that next month we will launch the first ever global online taekwondo event.

"We have always been committed to ensuring taekwondo is a sport for all and our belief that taekwondo can be a force for good has only strengthened during the pandemic. 

"Therefore it was essential we developed an online event that was open to male and female athletes of all ages; but was also open to family members. 

"At a time when some families are having to spend time apart, this event will bring grandparents and grandchildren, and everyone in between, together. 

"That is the power of taekwondo and we cannot wait to enjoy the video submissions we receive from around the world."

Entrants have five days to upload their videos of their best poomsae performance.

Each entry will be judged by a team of seven qualified referees, selected from a pool of 60 officials from 37 countries.

Submissions will be judged based on the standard poomsae scoring system which takes into account power, technique, breath, gaze and balance of the movement.

The highest and lowest referee score for each video will be discounted and an average from the remaining five scores will be generated to produce the final score. 

An exact competition schedule for the preliminary, semi-finals and finals will be determined based on the number of participants.

Elite finals in recognised poomsae will be live-streamed, with pre-recorded videos of the other events also planned to be shown.

World Taekwondo said they could revive the virtual event in future years.

"We will deliver a high quality visual Poomsae Championships so the fans can feel the same impression at home that they would get at the venue," Choue said. 

"The Online Poomsae Championships will be a new standard during this COVID era."