The Negros Taekwondo Union-Main, headed by coach JimJim Chua, will host the Visayas Age-Group Taekwondo Championships tomorrow, starting 9 a.m., at the Atrium Gaisano Supermall in Bacolod City.
The tournament will be participated in by 400 taekwondo jins from different taekwondo chapters from the cities of Cebu, Dumaguete, Tacloban, General Santos, Cagayan De Oro, and Bukidnon as well as from the provinces of Samar, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo and host Negros occidental.
Expected to attend the opening of the tournament are Grand Master Sung Chon Hong, father of Philippine Taekwondo, Monsour Del Rosario, taekwondo ambassador of the Philippines; Antonio Lacson, Western Visayas taekwondo regional director and Neg. Occ. 3rd District Board Member Frederick "Man-Man" Ko.*
http://www.visayandailystar.com/2009/May/16/sports.htm
Age-Group taekwondo kick off
TBB, TBS bets dominate National Elite Taekwondo tilt
MANILA, Philippines - Blackbelters from the National Capital Region bagged 11 gold medals in the senior men's and women's divisions to dominate the Smart National Elite taekwondo championships Sunday at the Rizal Memorial coliseum.
The Taekwondo Blackbelt Brotherhood (TBB) won six of the eight gold medals at stake while their counterparts in the Taekwondo Blackbelt Sorority (TBS) bagged five gold medals.
Winning the mints for TBB were finweight Joselito Aviles, fly Rikki Cruz Herrera, bantam Jordan Panayas, lightweight Jayson Manalo, welter Rolando Francisco and middleweight Allan Obenza.
In the women's division, TBS campaigners who struck gold were fly County Valenzuela, bantam Karala Jane Alava, feather Vianca Cardona, lightweight Izel Masungsung and welter Marifi Gadit.
Seizing the gold medals in the senior division were Region 3's finweight Thony Rose Parado, Cebu's feather Glenn Lava and Region 4's heavyweight Pierre Anthony Ong.
http://www.gmanews.tv/
Angola wins bronze medal in France Taekwondo Tournament
Luanda - Angola lifted a bronze medal and held the fourth place in the 13th edition of the national taekwondo open tournament held in Alsace, France, on April 25-26, said Sunday a federation source.
Pascoal Valantino held the third place in the +80 kg, followed by Sandra António (-67 kg) who ranked fourth. Dario Facada was defeated in the preliminary of the competition, won by Iran.
Twenty teams participate in the Open tournament, among them Iran (winner), Monaco, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Turkey and professional clubs in France.
The national delegation, that returned Thursday to the country, was headed by the Taekwondo Federation’s chairman, Nzuzi Ndolumingu.
This has been the first participation of the national team in the tournament which aimed at preparing athletes for the qualifiers for the Olympic Games.
http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_us/portal/capa/index.html
Taekwondo Association Gets Korean Embassy Gifts
The Korean Embassy in Accra has presented taekwondo equipment to the Ghana Taekwondo Association (GTA) as a booster to the national body as it seeks to make the discipline a popular one in the country.
The items worth $ 17,000, is to be used by the association in its training programmes and in competitions nationwide to popularize the sport and attract more practitioners to the discipline.
Ambassador Sun H. Lee, who represents the Republic of Korea in Ghana, made the presentation in Accra yesterday and hoped the items will be put to good use as the nation seeks to become a dominant force across the continent and beyond.
He announced that the Korea Republic will continue to explore other areas in helping Ghana with its forward march in sports and hoped that through the discipline, Ghana’s image would be brightened than before.
In their aim to ensure this, Mr. Lee assured that soon technical experts from Korea would be brought in to help train their Ghanaian counterparts to impact positively on the local scene.
The acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council (NSC), Worlanyo Agra, received the items on behalf of the GTA and promised that they would be put to good effect as Ghana seeks to strike a good balance with the Republic of Korea.
He called for more of such support believing that it is one of the surest ways of taking the lesser known sports to the doorstep of the Ghanaian and attracts more people to participate in the discipline.
The items included head gears, gloves, fore arm guards and mats among others. They were handed over to the chairman of the GTA, Mr Sampson Annor-Quarshie and the General Secretary,
Charles K. Attah.
http://www.newtimesonline.com/
Youth gain 16 tickets to National Team
Three members of the Petrolia Bluewater Club are joining their Sarnia colleagues to compete at the Canadian Junior Championships this weekend in Quebec City.
Kaitlin Berdan, 13, and Emilee Berdan, 12, of Oil Springs; and Rachel Irvine, 11, of Petrolia; will join 13 other athletes from the Bluewater Taekwondo Club in Sarnia at the nationals.
"The three of them all work hard five days a week, sometimes six," Master Mark Warburton said of the trio, noting they train at both Bluewater locations on alternate days.
Emilee Berdan will compete in the colour belt competition as a red belt/black stripe. "Emilee is very physically gifted and technically sound. It's been a long road for her to break out of her shell and develop confidence over the last year, but I'd say at the start of this year she broke through," said Warburton. "Now that she's got the drive and hunger to go with her abilities, she has been very dominant lately."
Her older sister Kaitlin will compete in the Poom B featherweight division (46 to 50 kilograms/ 101.2 to 110 pounds). Warburton said Kaitlin has grown quite rapidly into a serious contender over the last year.
"She's a really tough kid, but it took a while for her to fix a lot of bad habits instilled in her before she started succeeding. Now, she has gone from being a 'tough kid' to being 'a tough kid to beat,' which are definitely not the same thing in this sport."
Kaitlin, with two bronze medals and one gold medal from three provincial selection events, finished overall in second place for her weight division.
But Warburton considers her the top bet in the division from all the Ontario girls. "She fought in a different weight division at the first selection, and the girl ranked ahead of her had a gold medal by default. Kaitlin destroyed this girl at the second selection in less than two minutes, so the ranking points system really doesn't have any relevance on who is the best all the time."
Warburton adds "I am confident Kaitlin can win as long as she believes in herself and gives her all."
Irvine, who finished with a first place ranking in the Poom C welterweight division (becoming Ontario champion) will compete in the Poom C middleweight division (48 to 52 kilograms / 105.6 to 114.4 pounds) at the nationals.
"She's moved up two weight divisions, but she's just at the bottom of this one," said Warburton, who doesn't allow younger athletes to drop more than one kilogram to make weight. "It's too unhealthy for them. Older teenagers and adults know how to cut a bit more weight more safely, but these kids are still growing," he said. "Plus, I believe they can beat anybody -- or else I wouldn't put them in there. So I'm not concerned with having them be at really low weights."
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Irvine is growing really fast and has learned to use her reach and distance well, said Warburton. "If you get into her leg range, you're getting hit, and hit hard."
Warburton said he has no doubt Irvine has the potential to not only win this year's junior nationals but also become a top contender in Canada in the future.
"She really listens well and even though she has been successful, it doesn't get to her head at all. She still continues to work hard," said Warburton. "If she still has the same work ethic and positive attitude in a number of years, I can definitely see her on the Canadian national team."
The team departed for Quebec City today and returns on May 19. Warburton, himself a provincial champion and international competitor, skipped out on this year's senior nationals to focus on developing the junior athletes.
Petrolia Topic
http://www.theobserver.ca/
Ultimate Taekwondo team managed to dominate the national championships
TUEBROOK'S Ultimate Taekwondo Liverpool dominated the National Championship in Manchester.
The 25-strong team came home from the two day event at the Manchester Velodrome with a fantastic haul of six gold medals, four silver and six bronze.
Ultimate Taekwondo, founded in 1998, was also awarded the third place team trophy for the Saturday, the first place team trophy for the Sunday, and the first place team trophy for the entire weekend.
Seven-year-old Holly Wray, produced a fine display to become the club's youngest British champion, picking up gold in the under 23kg category.
Her sister Kayleigh, also performed fantastically, winning silver in the senior under 59kg category, and bronze in the junior category at the same weight level.
The 17-year-old also received the news from BTCB national coach Steven Jennings, that she had been selected to represent Team GB at the European Junior Taekwondo Championship in Sweden at the end of the month.
Ten-year-old Abigail Stones, who retained her title, was also selected to attend a cadet selection camp for the forthcoming European Cadets Championship.
Master Peter Hankin (5th Dan) was extremely proud of his team's performance.
He said: "They have all done fantastically well. There were over 480 people competing over the weekend, so to come home as team champions was a great achievement.
“The team and the children involved have trained very hard and have all stepped up to the challenges facing them. A huge congratulations goes out to all of them.”
Ultimate Taekwondo are now looking forward to their next big event, the Barnsley 1-to-1 Championships on May 31.
All youngsters aged from five upwards are welcome at the Academy. They train every weekday from 6pm to 9pm on West Derby Road, Tuebrook.
http://www.ultimatetkdliverpool.org.uk/
