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Taekwondo British Championships
Lesley Jackson and Andy Parr were at the first day’s events at the British TKD Open and a gripping day’s action it was too with this Lottery funded, well run event. Keep an eye out for further interviews soon with Britain’s Olympic bronze medallist Sarah Stevenson and Sport Taekwondo’s performance director, Gary Hall.
It was a fast and furious day of top Taekwondo action as Martial Edge were in attendance at the first day of the first British International Open held at Manchester’s Sport City complex. It was an impressive event as the British Taekwondo Control Board hosted a professional, well run and punctual tournament that displayed the cream of British talent in WTF Taekwondo alongside some of the best teams in the world, Korea and Iran, with a wealth of top European players as well. Great Britain was represented across most of the divisions with the majority of finals containing at least one British fighter. Although the quality of competition was high throughout, the British players that really caught one’s eye were; Tyrone Robinson in the Senior Men’s -58Kg; Bianca Walkden in the Ladies +72Kg and Jade Jones in the Junior Ladies event.
This young man, who appears like the Lewis Hamilton of Taekwondo, is a very cool customer and exudes a fierce confidence in his Taekwondo both on and off the mat. - Lesley Jackson on Tyrone Robinson
The day got off to an inauspicious start when before the tournament started, I spied some poor black tag already in the first aid area having his foot seen to. Man it can be rough out there! That is one of the first things I noticed being so close up to the action at this event, this is a full contact sport and the fighters are playing to win. When you see top level WTF sparring on the television, you do not always get the impression of just how hard it is to do, rather two people bobbing up and down and throwing the occasional kick. “But they don’t punch to the face!” you may cry, well, will a kick to the head do instead? Watching high level WTF Taekwondo is akin to martial arts chess, the technical footwork is a game of psychological sparring and when the wind rushes past your ear as contact is made, you then get the real impression of how hard the techniques are. This is Korean sparring in some of its purest form; it is athletic, clinical and aesthetically pleasing.
The day’s action contained some fascinating performances and the athlete who made the greatest impression was Mansfield’s Tyrone Robinson in the Men’s Flyweight. This young man, who appears like the Lewis Hamilton of Taekwondo, is a very cool customer and exudes a fierce confidence in his Taekwondo both on and off the mat. His earlier rounds were dealt with in a business like matter with the first one lasting less than five seconds as he dispatched his opponent with one of the sharpest turning ticks I have seen in quite some time. His final was no less impressive as he delivered a stunning display of Taekwondo against fellow British team member Romaine Bailey from London, who himself is also a very talented player. The Men’s Heavyweight final brought plenty of controversy and entertainment from Iran’s Konarivand Hamed and Korea’s Hyeon Jun Pak. The Iranian proved to be quite a character as he threw in a last minute golden kick just after the Korean had called for time about 5 seconds before the end of the match. No matter, the referee had not said stop and so his kick was valid, much to the Korean’s chagrin.
The Ladies division finals also contained some impressive Taekwondo action. The Ladies Heavyweight Bianca Walken dispatched her London opponent, Stephanie Allen in the second round with three swift kicks to the head. Job done. Norway’s Nikolina Kursur delivered a consistently high performance throughout her rounds to soundly beat Germany’s Sarah Jahn and Britain’s multiple national title holder, Caroline Fisher of Scorpion TKD, again performed true to form as she beat Germany’s Nilderm Kayas. In the Junior Ladies division, youngster Jade Jones of Manchester delivered some swift punishment to her opponents, winning her final in a matter of seconds as she kicked her way to victory. Jade is one to watch as her face was familiar after recognising her from the many TAGB (ITF style) tournaments I have been to. It appears Jade is going to dominate both styles of Taekwondo, a fighter to keep one’s eye on.
Recognition All Round
Of course, it would not be a proper day out for Martial Edge unless there was some comedy involved and there were a few moments of mirth for us including an early round in the Men’s division whereby the players proceeded to tactically bark at each other, making them sound like Taekwondo Yorkshire Terriers and my own brush with fame as the Korean coaching team took a bit of a shine to yours truly. I am not entirely sure why they were so eager to have their photos taken with me, either the word according to Martial Edge has really spread and I have an unknown Asian following or they mistook me for someone famous, either Cameron Diaz or Gwyneth Paltrow I reckon!
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Overall, the British International Open was an impressive event, made sweeter by the European Taekwondo Union announcing that in 2009, this event will be made A class, making it count towards European and World ranking for the players. Andrew Link, Operations Director of BTCB – Sport Taekwondo UK said, “We are delighted that the ETU has recognised the event after its first year in existence; a feat which I don’t believe has occurred previously. This is testament to the hard work that has gone in to preparing the event and the support it has been given by Manchester City Council, UK Sport Lottery funding and the taekwondo community of the UK.”
To find out more about British Olympic Taekwondo, visit the British Taekwondo Control Board’s website on: http://www.britishtaekwondo.org.uk/
Many thanks to Leigh Ireland of Capitalize for giving Martial Edge the opportunity to attend the event.
Lesley Jackson and Andy Parr were at the first day’s events at the British TKD Open and a gripping day’s action it was too with this Lottery funded, well run event. Keep an eye out for further interviews soon with Britain’s Olympic bronze medallist Sarah Stevenson and Sport Taekwondo’s performance director, Gary Hall.
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