During the weekend 23rd -25th July 2010 the 2nd Asia Championships were held in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. On behave of the ITF, Mr. Mariusz Stiekiewicz 6th degree originally from Poland, is working for the last 1,5 years to implement the ITF style in this WTF concentrated country. The VTF and the government have accepted the ITF in Vietnam as part of the Taekwon-Do organization and have accepted the organization of the 2nd ITF Asia Championship and the 18th Open Vietnam Tournament as one tournament.

At Thursday the 22nd and Friday the 23rd the Open Vietnam Tournament took place and at Friday the 23rd the events for the ITF started with an umpire seminar, weigh in, draw and coach meeting. During the umpire meeting at Thursday evening the umpire and tournament committee was installed and contained of: Mr. Mamedov of Kazachstan, Head of Umpires and Tournament in Asia, Master Rocky Routhwaite of Thailand, Master Alfred Yu of Hong Kong, Tournament director and President of ITF Asia Mr. Harry van Schaik of the Netherlands, Chief Umpire and Tournament 2nd ITF Asia Championships.

The umpire and tournament committee of the 2nd Asia Championships

Friday morning the referees of the participating countries were informed, trained and guided into the practical use of the rules of the International Taekwon-Do Federation. At the request of Mr. Mariusz Stiekiewicz and on the official invitation of Master Yu, President of ITF Asia, Harry van Schaik of the Netherlands was invited to conduct as an umpire at the championships. Mr. Harry van Schaik conducted many seminars and training for referees the last years in ITF Netherlands and has been almost 20 years working as a national and international referee.

The seminar had participants from Vietnamese, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Japan and Thailand referees. Unfortunate the teams from Nepal, India, Indonesia, Iran, New Zealand were unable to provide a referee. The course contained judging of individual patterns, team patterns, pre-arranged sparring, sparring and team sparring. The course was very practical of nature and all participants were able to work as an ITF umpire. At the end of the course our Acting President, Grand Master Trajtenberg and special assistant Master Lan from Germany were present and stated the appreciation and rewarded the course as very professional. In the afternoon all the participants had to weigh and after the draw the coaches were informed.

At Friday evening there was the opening ceremony which was very professional arranged bye the hosting organizer with a lot of different Martial Arts from Vietnam. Also the team of New Zealand displayed a great performance of ITF Taekwon-Do and was rewarded bye the audience with a great feed-back. Grand Master Trajtenberg opened the 2nd Asia Championships and was given a nice present of the hosting country.

 

Saturday the 24th July 2010 individual patterns, team patterns and pre-arranged sparring were displayed. Because there were many umpires of the same country and a lot of umpires needed the experience the format of a “shadow” referee team was introduced. This team took place behind the tables of the Jury President and made the action as the referees on the floor with the difference that the scores of the “shadow” referees was not in to competition and was for educational purpose only. This worked out very well and was much appreciated bye the organizing and more inexperienced referees to get some practice. Schedule was followed according to plan and at ended a 30 minutes before schedule.

Sunday the 25th July 2010 individual sparring and team sparring were displayed. With the team of umpires we had enough umpires to act as corner referee, equipment check referee and Marshall to get the competitors at the right place. In a rotation system all umpires worked out very well. During the competition it was clear that the team of New Zealand was the nr 1 country but teams as Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam were getting very close and sometimes won their categories. Very good Taekwon-Do was displayed and for some a good experience to grow on several fields.

It is good to mention that the whole tournament got a great display at national television and got 3 times live coverage including the finals of male team sparring between Uzbekistan and New Zealand. Unfortunate the Uzbekistan team was unable to perform because of injuries but gave a great performance and pr for ITF Taekwon-Do in Asia and Vietnam especially.

At the end of the day all competitors and umpires got nice medal’s and presents and a lot of pictures were taken. Grand Master Trajtenberg, Master Lan and Master Yu stated their appreciation for the hard work being done bye the organizers and umpires at this championship and the high quality of this tournament. In the evening there was a nice party arranged on a boat with a nice meal and entertainment the Asian way!

I’d like to thank Mariusz Stieckiewicz for his support, Master Yu for the invitation and support, Master and Mrs Routhwaite for their support and friendship, Mr. Memedov for his support and confidence and Grand Master Trajtenberg and Master Lan for their support and presence.

On behave of the Umpire and Tournament Committee 2nd Asia Championships,
Harry van Schaik, ITF Netherlands
Chief Umpire and Tournament committee 2nd Asia Championships,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2010