Success in Taekwondo World Championships
Taekwondo do clubs all over West Cork are celebrating this week as a number of their own return victorious from Korea. The members from the TKDI association returned home with 2 Bronze and a Gold between them.
The 2010 ITF Taekwondo World Championships were held in Cheongju, South Korea, July 4th to 8th. Competitors from over 40 countries participated in the weeklong event. The Irish were well represented with a contingent of over 70 people, supporters and competitors. These included James Dwyer, Paul Manning Stephan Nyhan. All three hail originally from Bandon Taekwondo Club and now run their own clubs in Midleton, Blackrock and Innishannon. Other team members were Oliver McCarthy (NUI Galway) and Catherine O’Sullivan (Crosshaven). Coach for TKDI was Mr. Michael Burke.
This tournament is one of the pivotal events for Taekwondo organisations across the world. Training for this event began almost 2 years ago with participants having to attend rigorous weekly squad sessions, stick to a healthy diet and keep an eye on their weight.
Having arrived in Korea, everyone had to register & weigh in on July 2nd. This was followed by several days of nervous waiting for the sections to begin.
Catherine was first one of the team to fight on Tuesday evening and put in a great performance to beat her Scottish opponent in the first round. She was beaten by an Argentinean in her next fight. Her opponent went on to become world champion. On Wednesday morning, Stephen was the first of the men to fight in the light-weight division and after clearly dominating his Japanese opponent the Judges baffled everyone watching by awarding the decision against him.
Paul fought in the light-weight division. After a successful year of international competitions, Paul easily defeated his South Korean opponent. He then fought the current European Champion from England. Paul got the better of him to get through to the quarter finals to face a German fighter. Again Paul fought through a tough bout to secure a place in the Semi Finals. After a very close fight the Argentinean beat him by a single point. But Paul had already secured a Bronze Medal for Ireland
James fought in the middle-weight section and he easily dispatched a fighter from Greece. On top form, James easily beat another two fighters from Argentina and England to get into the semi-final. The semi-final, against another Argentinean was a very close fight and the Irish supporters went wild when James took the decision and made it to the final. James was up against an English fighter. He came at James strong during the first round but once he got in front there was no stopping James and he was crowned World Champion.
The team sparring event came next. Catherine fought on the ladies team, who despite picking up a lot of injuries, managed to secure 3rd place and a bronze medal. James fought on the Men’s sparring team taking the place of Oliver McCarthy, who fractured his eye socket during an energy driven first round clash. Ireland reached the semi finals against Argentina and secured another medal for Ireland as the team took Bronze.
The Team can finally relax after a whole year of training and preparation. Everyone on the team would like to thank their coach, Mr Michael Burke, for all his help and support. A big thanks also, to everyone in Taekwondo-Do Ireland, and Family & friends for their support during the fundraising efforts through-out the past year. See www.tkdi.ie for more updates and photographs from the great event.
