The Great Britain taekwondo team returns home today from the German Open in Hamburg after winning three more medals, which follows on from their successful eight medal haul at the Dutch Open just two weeks ago.



Britain’s Stella Whitehead won gold in the junior -63Kg weight category whilst Jordan Gayle and Romaine Bailey won silver, putting the squad in great shape ahead of the European Championships which take place in the Italian capital of Rome next month. Despite a reduced team size and participating in their first event which used the new electronic protectors, Britain’s youngsters shone as all 2012 prospects performed exceptionally.



Whitehead (Scorpion Taekwondo Club, Doncaster) beat Sirmagul Cukurlu of Germany 4-2 in a hotly contested final which made up for her narrowly missing out on a medal a fortnight ago in Eindhoven. Jordan Gayle (Aces Taekwondo Club, Manchester) and Romaine Bailey (Fusion Taekwondo Club, London) won silver with Gayle only just losing out on gold after being defeated by Tahir Gulec of Germany in the final. Gayle, who put in some very strong performances throughout the day, adds this silver medal to the gold he collected in Holland and looks to be in fantastic form as he gears up for the World Junior Championships, which take place in Turkey in May.



Gary Hall, Performance Director for the British taekwondo team was satisfied with the squads efforts and commented, “I thought the team performed well under some challenging circumstances and praise must go to Stella Whitehead who bounced back superbly after the disappointment of not medalling at the Dutch Open. Obviously it is disappointing that Craig Brown was unable to make an impact after returning from injury but he made it through the event unscathed and can now continue with his training which is good news.”



Hall added, “This was the first event my team has participated in where the new electronic body protectors have been in use and I find it amazing that these are introduced just 5 months before an Olympic Games where we know they will not feature. For the sake of 5 months I would have expected the World Taekwondo Federation to wait to avoid unsettling preparations in the build up to Beijing.”

good luck, and Pil Seung!