South Dublin Taekwondo

South Dublin Taekwondo

Irish International Open 2016

20160918_165942The National Basketball Arena in Tallaght played host to last weekends ‘Irish International Open / Korean Ambassadors Cup, where local, national and international Olympic Taekwondo athletes came together for the 2 day event hosted by Tallaght’s ‘South Dublin Taekwondo [SDTKD]’ The event was supported by Failte Ireland, South Dublin Council and the Korean Embassy in Ireland. 265 fighters took to the mats on the Saturday for the sparring event, with approx 200 entries in all divisions on the Sunday for technical ‘Pooomsae’ competition. The annual event catered for all with divisions from pee-wee to veteran with divisions in all aspects of taekwondo discipline including sparring, patterns, pairs patterns, team patterns, freestyle and para divisions. Some of Irelands grass roots talent were delighted to share the stage with national team athletes and hopefully get inspiration for their bright taekwondo careers ahead. Local clubs Eire Taekwondo [Aylsbury], Clondalkin Taekwondo, and SDTKD [Tallaght Leisure Centre] were all in action with each club having success on the day. With excitement growing after the recent Rio Olympics, there were performances of note from locals including Abby Gorman from Clondalkin TKD who picked up a bronze in sparring and a silver in poomsae, also from Clondalkin Grace Gorman & Isabel McIntyre both won bronze in poomsae. Eire taekwondo who have a club in Aylsbury had 2 of their athletes reach the top tier of the podium in -68kg junior; Ndjatang Bibong & Sam Wheeldon won gold & silver respectively. Hosts SDTKD fielded a substantial team in support of their home event and were delighted noted the performances of the Rena family as a huge delight for the club. Kim Rena picked up a staggering 3 golds throughout the event in sparring, poomsae, and pair with her younger brother Jed. Jed took home 3 golds and a silver, the silver in sparring, and they inspired their younger sister Liana Rena  to take part in her debut event who at a small 20 kilos wowed the crowd in her first ever match winning 8-3 over her opponent from England. The heart warming display carried her into the semis where she won 5-4, and then went on to take silver in the final. On day 2 Liana secured a gold in the poomsae event. At the higher end of the spectrum, local Jack Woolley followed team direction and stayed home for the event rather than go to the Polish Open World Ranking Event.. Jack took home the gold in the senior -58kg division on day one, and  followed through with a clean sweep winning golds in all his other divisions; poomsae, pairs with his team mate Jamilah Depakakibo, and 3 man team with SDTKD Coaches Dylan Leonard & Anas Belmaati.IMG_2406.CR2

The hosts were delighted with a visit from the Korean Ambassador to Ireland Mr. Kang-il Hu. ‘This is the 4th year running that the Embassy of Korea in Ireland have supported the event, and their contribution has done so much for taekwondo in Ireland allowing us to improve our competitions and standard of athletes.’, noted Tournament Coordinator / SDTKD Coach Robert Taaffe. The 2 day spectacular was rounded off with a final awards ceremony with titles going to; 3rd Place Sparring Team – Extreme [Northern Ireland], 2nd Place Sparring Team – Champion [Dublin], 1st Place Sparring Team – South Dublin, 3rd Place Poomsae Team – Ireland Hankuk Taekwondo, 2nd Place Poomsae Team – South Dublin, 1st Place Poomsae Team – United Taekwondo Association of Northern Ireland, local coach Brendan Ryan of Clondalkin Taekwondo was awarded ‘Best Poomsae Official’ of the tournament and the final award of Grand Champion was given to Jack Woolley who topped the podium in all of his divisions. Event Coordinator Taaffe concluded, ‘Alot of hard work was put into this event by alot of people, i am so greatful of the assistance from all and we were delighted to put on a show that is one step closer to the ranking events around the world our members usually have to travel to. WTF [World Taekwondo Federation] Olympic Style Taekwondo is the biggest martial art in the world, but not in Ireland, hopefully the efforts of today will go some way to assist its major recent emergence in Irish Martial Arts.’ The Irish taekwondo Union President announced afyter the event, ‘I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Hard work and dedication that Master Robert Taaffe has put into the organisation and successful delivery of this year’s Irish Open event.

It was a fantastic weekend of Taekwondo with a very high Standard of competition.

Master Taaffe continues to raise the bar in terms of event management and delivery and on behalf of the ITU I would like to congratulate and thank him for his efforts in tirelessly promoting WTF Taekwondo in Ireland.’
Anyone interested in WTF Taekwondo should search for Irish Taekwondo Union on Facebook.
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