UKTA English Open Taekwon-Do Championships 2008

On Saturday15th March,8 students from the South Devon Taekwon-Do club in Torbay travelled to Crawley to compete in the UKTA English Open Taekwon-Do Championships, and came away with a haul of 15 medals between them.

It was an early start, getting up at 4am before setting off to the impressive K2 stadium where competitors in their hundreds had gathered to compete in the presence of Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha who is celebrating his 70th Birthday this year.

The competition commenced with the Veteran black belt categories where Lorna Wright 2nd dan, and Ann Evans 1st dan were up against other grades as high as 5th dan. Lorna won Gold in the Power category for breaking the focus board with a turning kick. She also won Silver for Patterns and Bronze for Sparring. Ann won Silver for Sparring and Bronze for Power. Both ladies were beaten in the sparring by an experienced 5th dan competitor by the narrowest of margins.

Next to compete were the children’s colour belts with Christopher Wright (age 8) 5th Kup, and Sam Bridge (10) 8th Kup, putting in some good performances. Sam was competing in his first competition and battled his way through several tough rounds to win Gold for Sparring. Sam’s older brother Tom 3rd Kup also won Gold for Sparring and Silver in both Patterns and Special Technique. (Special Technique requires the competitor to jump a certain height or distance and to perform a kicking technique to a focus point before landing.)

In the teenage black belt category, Rachel Smith (14) 2nd dan won Gold for both Sparring and Special Technique as well Silver for Patterns, whilst Wayne O’Neill (16) 1st dan won Silver for Sparring despite chipping a bone in his thumb.

In the adult colour belt category, Dave Bearne 2nd Kup won Bronze medals for both Sparring and Power. It was a very successful day and their instructor Mr Steven Millis 5th dan is very proud of their performances and the club’s success.

Welsh Championships 2007
This year’s event took place in the excellent sports arena at Cardiff University. The event proved to be a long but very enjoyable day with over 300 competitors taking part competing across six rings. There was even a welsh vocal performance and a cheerleader demonstration during the lunch break.

We took nine competitors from our school and all nine managed to return with at least one medal each.
At the end of the day our school was placed 7th out of 29 schools. Well done!

A special mention goes to Thomas and Steve who both had to fight their way through 5 gruelling rounds to win their gold medals and thank you to Amanda for arranging the minibus.



Picture (Left to Right) Back Row – Amanda (B), Wayne (B), Steve (G), Mr Millis, David (B), Emma (S)
G- Gold / S- Silver / B – Bronze Front Row – Christopher (S), Lorna (G x 2), Kelly (G), Thomas (G x 2)

Congratulations to all who took part and helped in the Cornish Open

This was a great day out for all who took part. Torbay Taekwon-do club came away with a hoard of medals and trophies.

Sparring Matt Skilton- Gold Tom - Gold Amanda - Gold Steve - Gold Trevor - Silver Wayne - Silver Anne - Silver Matt - Silver Christopher - Bronze Rachel - Bronze	Patterns Amanda - Gold Steve - Gold Trevor - Silver Rachel - Silver Matt - Silver Emma - Bronze Rachel - Bronze David - Bronze