Beginners Cup
First Timers With Their Silverware
South Dublin Taekwondo’s latest recruits were the 1st in action in 2013 for the club which has a major calendar ahead. The 1st event in the Irish Taekwondo Union Calendar was the Beginners Cup held in Swords on January 27th. 14 players from white to yellow belt were selected to attend the event hosted by Ilyo Taekwondo Club. All set aside the 1st time nerves aided by club Coaches Robert Taaffe, new senior coach Dylan Leonard, and junior coach Jack Woolley on the day. All players were successful in bringing home medals on their first outing with some highlights of the day noted by Coach Taaffe, ‘Young Leon Dilandu has just left our Tots programme, and at only 22kg, the small package was in flying forms going all the way to a 6-6 final score, narrowly losing in an extra round golden point contest. Mark Stanley went on to a successful gold in his division with a very exciting finale against another SDTKD player Sebastian Sweeney in the final. At the senior end of the event, SDTKD had to adult debutants, Jeff Mohammad gave the crowd an excellent display of areal taekwondo, finishing his final match 15-0 taking the gold medal, and late addition Mariusz Malecki who is one of SDTKD’s biggest heavyweight players was dwarfed by his 125kg opponent in the final of the senior heavy weights. Mario used his speed around the ring to win a convincing 8-2 final victory. The tournament was the 1st of its kind in the ITU where all the full rules & preparations of large tournaments were employed for the beginners, to give them a taste of things to come. Delighted with the performances on the day, SDTKD have invited all players to attend the upcoming Meath Open on February 23rd.
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