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WTF Taekwondo at World Masters Games
Taekwondo is on the official program for the 2013 World Masters Games, being held in Torino, Italy.
International
Masters Games Association (IMGA) CEO Jens Holm said “Given taekwondo’s
high educational aspect and popularity around the world, taekwondo’s
inclusion in the Masters Games will create a high synergetic effect on
both the WTF and the IMGA.”
WTF
President Choue, who was at the IMGA meeting where the decision was
made, said “Poomsae’s inclusion in the Masters Games will further
promote taekwondo, especially poomsae. For the WTF, it is another feat
following poomsae’s inclusion in the 2017 Universiade and the 2013
Mediterranean Games.”
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YeongCheon
1st International Club Open Results
Four members of the TNZ High Performance Project Team competed at the
YeongCheon Open held in YeongCheon, South Korea in July.
Accompanying them were two "go with the team" athletes; in the youth
competition Chris Casey from Christchurch, previously representing New
Zealand at the Youth World Championships, had a win by default in the
first round of competition, before loosing 2 nil to a Korean competitor
in the second. Alex Rings from the Manawatu took his first fight
against a competitor from Kazakhstan, but an unfavourable draw saw him
up against the current Olympic Champion for his second fight, and
although he lost he came away happy with the experience.
Alex's draw highlights the level of competition facing the team, and in
the world championship weight divisions Alan Brian, Robin Cheong and
Hayley Schofield all suffered losses in their first round fights.
Vaughn Scott took his first fight against Iraq and his second against a
Korean competitor, before loosing in the quarter finals against another
Korean opponent.
Once again New Zealand did better in the Olympic Divisions, Robin
taking gold against a Korean competitor, and Hayley and Vaughn bronze
against respectively Russian and Australian fighters. Alan lost
in his second round fight against Australia, and Alex was unfortunate
to loose by referees decision in his first fight against a competitor
from the USA. Down 2 nil in the first round he came back to be
6-4 ahead in the second round, and at the end of the third was drawn
7-7. No points scored in the golden point round meant the referee
decided on the winner.
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Vaughn vs USA
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Alan vs Australia
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Alex vs Korea
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Go with the Team
With New Zealand athletes travelling overseas as part of our High
Performance Project TNZ offered the opportunity for other athletes who
had already met certain performance criteria to join the team and benefit from the team support and coaching available.
One of the athletes who took up this opportunity is Alex Rings from the
Manawatu area, who will be going with the New Zealand team to the
YeongCheon Open this month. Alex is in a second year of a
Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science degree at UCOL in Palmerston
North, and is a regular tournament competitor - winning gold at the
2010 TUNZ North Island Championships and Silver at the TNZ Open, as
well as Gold at the 2009 TUNZ Nationals and North Island
Championships. Alex represented New Zealand at the 2008 Oceania
Championships.
As the Go with the Team programme is self funded Alex picked up extra
shifts in his part time supermarket job to help cover the cost.
To assist Alex, all four Manawatu clubs helped fundraise and
contributed directly - Massey Taekwondo Club Instructor Darryl June
said "our tkd community will always support those students with the
drive to reach for their goals".
The YeongCheon Open is being held in YeongCheon, South Korea between
9th and 13th July and is a G1 graded event. Visit the
tournament website.
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Alex in action at the 2008 Oceania Championships and the TUNZ North Island Championships
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Taekwondo at the Commonwealth Games
The
Commonwealth Taekwondo Union has successfully held two Commonwealth
Championships, in Brisbane in 2006 and Winnepeg in 2008 and TNZ has had competitors at
each with good results. There is a third tournament planned for Chennai, India in 2011. Since 2002 the CTU has also been lobbying
for
inclusion in the Commonwealth Games, and has now been successful with
Taekwondo being accepted as a Category 2 sport.
Commonwealth
Games sports are categorised as Category 1 (compulsory) sports;
Athletics, Swimming, Badminton, Boxing, Field Hockey, Lawn Bowls,
Netball, Squash, Rugby Sevens and Weightlifting, which are included in
all Games. Taekwondo has been included in Category 2 (optional
sports) along with Archery, Basketball, Cycling, Diving, Gymnastics,
Judo, Shooting, Table Tennis, Tennis, Triathlon and Wrestling. Host
cities can choose up to seven Category 2 sports for any Games.
The
sports for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have already been
chosen, and a host city for the 2018 has yet to be decided.
Congratulations to
CTU officials for this great achievement.
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New
Zealand Team 2006 Commonwealth Championships
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2008
Commonwealth Championships
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Find out more at the WTF
Site.
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WTF Oceania Championships
The 2010 WTF
Oceania Championships are being held in Noumea,
New Caledonia between 3-4 December 2010. There will be youth and
adult sparring competition and poomsae competition. This is a WTF
ranked event.
Oceania
rules allow up to two competitors from each country per sparring
division, and TNZ intends sending Development Team and "A" Team
athletes who will be chosen using our selection
policy and process (pdf).
The New Zealand Black Belt Championships are our primary means of
gauging athletes current form and prospective team members who are not
able to compete at this event should note the procedure for obtaining
an exemption from competition. A number of factors are used in
deciding team membership and winning at this event does not mean
automatic selection (see the policy for full selection criteria).
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High Performance Team Canadian Results
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Robin
vs Diana Lopez, USA
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Matt
vs Christian Suh, USA
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Hayley
vs Karine Sergerie, Canada
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Five
TNZ athletes competed at the recent Canadian Open, in both Olympic
divisions and WTF weight divisions. All came back with medals from one
or both competition categories. Robin Cheong achieved the best
results in both divisions, gaining a gold in the Olympic division, and
silver in her WTF division. Matt Beach, New Zealands other
Olympic athlete from 2008 achieved bronzes in both categories.
Hayley Schofield, who has previously represented New Zealand at a
number of events starting as a teenager at the Junior World
Championships, achieved a silver in the Olympic division and a bronze
in the WTF division. Both Alan Brian and Vaughn Scott gained bronzes in
the Olympic divisions, but despite both winning fights were unplaced in
big fields in their WTF divisions.
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Vaughn
vs Angel Martinez, Puerto Rico
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The
team
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Alan
vs Siddharta Bhat, Canada
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2010 WTF Junior World Champs Photos
For more on the JWC go to the Christchurch
Olympic Taekwondo site, where you will find articles from the Team
Manager and one of the parents who travelled with the team, and more
photos.
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International competition opportunity for TNZ
athletes
TNZ’s high
performance athletes will be competing in Korea and Europe during the
coming year at WTF ranked events;
Jul 9-13
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Yeongcheon 1st
International Club Open |
ranked G-1 |
| Sept 25-26 |
British
International Open
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ranked G-2 |
They
will be travelling with a support team including a team manager and
coach. It is also intended to arrange training time with local
high performance teams as part of the planned trips.
TNZ
would like to offer the opportunity for other TNZ top sparring
competitors to travel with the team and compete at these events with
team support.
To be eligible
athletes will need to have competed as a New Zealand team member at;
- 2008 Oceania or
Commonwealth Championships or
- 2009 WTF World
Championships or
- 2010 Junior World
Championships
are
currently training and competing, and be able to provide their own
funding. If you are eligible and interested in competing at
either of these events email info@taekwondonz.org.nz
with your contact details and a member of the high performance project
team will contact you.
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2010 WTF Junior World Champs Results
The
2010 WTF Junior World Championships were also held in Tijuana Mexico
between 6th - 9th March, and followed on from the Youth Olympic
Qualification event. Despite there being very strong competition this
year, our upcoming junior athletes still put up some good performances
laying down a good foundation for the future.
Randy Javier competing in the male under 55 kg division came up against
USA who won the fight convincingly 12:1 and went on to take the bronze
overall. Chris Casey, male under 63 kg's, had a close match with
Australia eventually losing 4:2 and his opponent making it through to
the top 16. Mark Tee managed to score some points but was otherwise
outclassed by Bolivia, while Hetal Shukla lost her match to Russia in
the female under 49 kg division with Russia making the top 16. Last up
was Sarah Vergeer, who also drew a top USA competitor losing 8:1 and
her opponent also making it through to the top 16.
TNZ is very pleased with the efforts of our junior team and look
forward to their continuing to grow as athletes and capitalise on some
very good performances at both events in Mexico. Also, a big thanks to
the Junior Team Coach Mike Hannah, the Junior Team Manager, Joanne
Vergeer, and the Team Medic Caroline Tee for looking after the team in
Mexico. TNZ also acknowledges the help and support of the parents who
attended these events and for their help and support in the background.
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WTF
Youth Olympic Qualifier - NZ Junior Team Results
Held
in Tijuana Mexico, between the 3rd and 5th March our three athletes
competed well with a top 16 placing overall for Randy Javier.
Randy
Javier, competing in the male under 55Kg division, had a good win
against Tunisia, 5 - 4 in his first match and followed that up with an
impressive win against Columbia before losing to Israel in his third
match. Randy was still able to crack the top 16 with his three matches.
Meanwhile,
Chris Casey (male under 63kgs) had a close-fought loss to Tunisia, 2-0
but still put up a strong performance, and our third team-member, Hetal
Shukla (female under 49kgs) was outscored from the opening in her match
against Guatemala, with the Guatemalan taking the win.
Next up our team
heads to the WTF Junior World Championships being held between 6th -
9th March, and also in Tijuana.
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Competing
Overseas
Intending to compete
internationally? See NZ Team Doctor Bren Dorman's recommendations for a
personal
first aid kit (pdf) to take with you.
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