Newsletter Newsletter 4/2007 English Championships 2007

   

Saturday 24th November saw ITF England stage the 2007 English Championships. Organised by Mr Philip Lear (5th degree), the Tournaments Director, and hosted at the new K2 leisure centre in Crawley, the competition had just under 300 participants fro 33 clubs.

   

Mr Lear and his team set up the hall on the Friday evening, with four rings plus the power test and special technique area, a main stage at the front, and several hundred seats for spectators, there was still plenty of space left to allow competitors to warm up and to ensure there was no crowding.

The competition began at 9.30 with the black-belt patterns, before progressing to black-belt sparring. After lunch, the colour belts competed, with the tournament ending on schedule at 18.30. With some of the black belt categories very small only competitors who won a round won the medals.

   
   

Some of the highlights included seeing Mr Graham Patterson (5th degree and 2003 World Champion at 4th degree patterns) compete in 4th-6th degree patterns, plus a titanic clash in the final of the lightweight sparring between the 2007 World Champion, Matt Cadle, and the 2007 European Champion, Felix Kelly.

Also in attendance were Master Ellis (8th degree and President of ITFE), Master Nardizzi (7th degree and Chairman of TKD Impact), and Mr Tom Denis (6th degree and National Coach).

The medals table was topped by Mr Lear’s students, with Mrs Lisa Dennis coming second, and Mr Tim Dunn third.

See the Final Results (MS Word file, 210 kB)

Matt Gibb