Back at the end of February, Gibraltar Taekwondo travelled to Belfast to participate at the Northern Ireland International Poomsae Championships, to return home with 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal.
The event took place at the Queens University Sport Centre and saw over 390 competitors from across 13 countries, from 5 years old to 76 years old. They competed across 6 rings under the watchful eyes of 34 judges from 11 countries, 24 of who were highly respected and experienced International Referees, traveling from as far away as the US to be part of the Championships. Under the leadership of Grandmaster Tong Wan Shin the quality of refereeing was undeniable, with several competitors saying that the judges were one of the best groups assembled outside the European Championships themselves.
The level of the competition was truly amazing and getting harder and harder each time. Poomsae is a game of very fine margins and subjective decisions. The Gibraltar Team members were Megan Ruiz (A Class U30), Macy Cornelio (A Class U17) and Ilya Rodionov (B Class Peewee) together with coach Master Ernest Garcia and team manager Karissa Garcia, who accompanied the team to Belfast.
Here are the results:
Individuals
Megan - Dan U30 Female - made it to the finals
Macy - Dan U17 Female - made it to the quarterfinals
Ilya - K1 Peewee Male - won GOLD
Pairs
Megan - Dan U30 - made it to the semifinals
Macy - Dan U17 - made it to the semifinals
Ilya - K1 Peewee - won GOLD
Teams
Megan - Dan U30 Female - won SILVER
Macy - Dan U17 Female - made it to the finals
Ilya - K1 Peewee Male - won GOLD
Despite Megan and Macy missing out on achieving medals in their individual categories, they still managed great performances.
An International Poomsae Seminar was held at the same venue the day following the competition. This was conducted by former world Poomsae champion Master Sung Hey Kim and his son Tae Woong Kim who is a member of the WTF demonstration team.
All that is left is to congratulate competition Director Master Damian Duffy and Master Glen Culbert for such a successful event. We are very proud of our team, for their hard work and achievements. Special thanks also to families for their constant support.