Newsletter 2/2006 VII Viking Cup International 2006
Newsletter 2/2006 VII Viking Cup International 2006
The seventh edition of the Viking Cup International, which ran from 8th–9th April 2006 in Skövde, Sweden attracted an unprecedented number of participants. There were over 400 competitors from 48 clubs representing 14 different countries.
The following countries had participants in this year’s Viking Cup International: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and Ukraine. This level of participation is a direct result of the fact that the Viking Cup International has justifiably earned a reputation as a top event on the ITF tournament circuit, well organised, high technical standard and attracting the cream of ITF Taekwon-Do competitors.
Viking Cup International has become one of the best ITF Taekwon-Do tournaments in Europe, and possibly the world. The excellent quality competitors included many current European and World medallists including; Julia Cross, Joanna Lipa, Joanna Paprocka, Marzanna Pawlik, Ilona Dziala, Malgorzata Rogaczewska, Monika Olek, Ciaran Ryan, Donal O'Donoghue, Igor Maksimenko, Ismo Mäkinen, Hong Looi, Katya Solovey and many other very good and ambitious competitors.
There was excellent organisation and processing of registrations, weigh-in and payments ran very smoothly, allowing the competitors to concentrate on the task at hand. The competition followed a tight schedule, which was available to each coach/competitor in advance of the event, detailing the precise time and duration of each section on one of the four competition areas. The competitors had fights in a league system, against each person in their pool or in larger divisions they competed according to the pyramid system with re-qualification. This system means that competitors have as many matches as possible which results in great value in terms of International competitive experience gained at Viking Cup International.
The divisions were operated according to the following rules:
The organisers’ attention to detail, organisation, project management and the top Taekwon-Do talent on display, together with many official visits made this event very memorable.
This year the guests of honour included leaders of some key European associations: Mr. Tadeusz Loboda - President of All Europe Taekwon-Do Federation, President of Polish Taekwon-Do Association, Mr. Lazaros Tsilfides - President of All Russian Taekwon-do Federation, Mr. Oleg Solovey - President of ITF Ukraine, Mr. Mariusz Steckiewicz - President of ITF Finland, Mr. Emir Dizdarevic - President of Swedish Taekwon-Do Federation, Mr. Örjan Eriksson - President of Swedish ITF Taekwon-Do Association, Master Per Andresen, Leader of the largest Taekwon-Do organisation in Scandinavia, National Taekwon-Do Norway, Mr. Tord Gustafsson - President of Skövde City Executive Board, Mr. Thomas Sjödin - Holder of the first black belt in Sweden (1972), Mr. Ferenc Böö - Secretary General of the Swedish Taekwon-Do Federation, Holder of the first 2nd Degree Black Belt in Sweden.
The Viking Cup International is one of the few competitions which has its own website with reach archives http://www.vikingcup.just.nu/ where you can find much interesting information, including posters, results also photo and film galleries.
Most participants agreed that this edition was the biggest and best Viking Cup International so far and are already looking forward to the VIII edition to be held on 31st March - 1st April 2007!
See also photos from the competition on the website: http://www.lewart.pl/galeria.php?rok=2006&nazwa=VikingCup and on the site: http://www.ivarsoyfoto.no/projects.html.
