Campionship Success
Heather Hungry for Medals
Another up and coming champion from West Midlands Tae Kwon Do is Heather Oakley aged 13 from Kidderminster. Heather has been training now for nearly 2 years and has acquired a taste for medals. Since her first grading Heather has entered every regional, national and international competition available, pushing herself to train harder and harder to learn and improve with each one. So far in her short martial arts career, young Heather has won 3rd place in an inter-club tournament, 3rd Place in the World Championships in Birmingham 2007, 2nd place in the 2007 Scottish Championships, 2nd place 2007 North Midlands Championships, 3rd in 2007 British Championships, and as part of a team now has 3 gold medals under her belt. This September Heather, with the support of her Dad, journeyed to Glasgow for the Scottish Open Tae Kwon Do Championships. Heather put up a valiant battle to win the silver medal in the Individual Sparing after coming up against a very good fighter in the final. Her opponent defended well and Heather was unable to break through her defence to score. In her attempting to score got kicked on the chest twice to lose her bout 4-0. Heather put that disappointment behind her to gain a gold medal in the team sparring, partnering the person who had beaten her in the individual sparring competition and another competitor from England. Last week Heather showed true fighting spirit in the British Tae Kwon Do Championships held in Nottingham. The event was the 25th Anniversary of the Tae Kwon Do Association of Great Britain, one of the largest martial arts associations in Europe. Competitors travelled from all across the UK & Northern Ireland with a guest team invited over from Holland to compete and see the amazing displays put on by our Nations Regional Teams. Heather again was unfortunate to lose out in the individual Sparring but bravely recruited a team to help her fight her way back to the top and take First Place and the Gold Medal in the British Tag Team Sparring.
British Championship.
Also from Kidderminster School, Hassan Ghoncheh, featured in the Shuttle earlier this year, stormed through the rounds to take Silver. In his fourth round after an uncontrolled blow to the head, Hassan suffered a short moment of unconsciousness, but picked himself up and stood ready to continue the bout. The Referee however deemed the shot “excessive in contact and uncontrolled” and Ghoncheh’s opponent was disqualified. This gave the brave fighter a free ticket to the finals where he lost out to a strong fighter from Scotland. From Bewdley School, bold beginners stepped into the ring for the first time in the British Championships. Father and daughter fighting duo Simon and Ashlee Whale put up strong fights in their respective bouts against much more experienced opponents. Simon excelled in his first fight, demonstrating a strong repertoire of techniques with skill, power and accuracy. His abilities saw him win 6-0 in his first ever competitive spar. He was unfortunate to lose in his second bout to a strong and clearly experienced opponent, but Simon defended well and deflected many strong attacks. Ashlee followed a similar course to her father putting up a brave fight against a challenging opponent but was unsuccessful on this occasion. For more information on Tae Kwon Do for all ages & for both complete beginners and those with previous experience.
Contact Vince Farquharson on 07971 003079 or view our website www.westmidstkd.co.uk
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