Newsletter 2/2011 Taekwon-do Challenge 2011
Last Sunday, may 29th 2011, the Taekwon-do Challenge 2011 took place in Guntramsdorf, Austria. It was the third tournament of a new series introduced in the spring of 2010 and it exceeded all expectations. With more than 90 participants from 7 clubs fighting in 35 categories, the last two tournaments outmatched by far. The club responsible for organization, In-Nae, was praised for their engagement and perfect planning. For the first time 17 umpires from the different clubs were ready to judge all the categories in three rings simultaneously. And during lunch-break, a new demo-team, called the ITF-Youngsters inspired the audience with a spectacular sibum/show containing all 5 elements of Taekwon-do.
The club Guk-gi was able to achieve the title of overall club winner for the third time in a row, barely outmatching the club Yi-Sun-Sin by just one gold medal this time. Christopher Nord from Guk-gi became male overall champion and Christina Mechacek from Yom-Chi became female overall champion for the third time consecutively. During power-breaking, Rhuarid Maccallum achieved Gold medal by breaking two blackboards and one whiteboard, which is more than world championship level.
In the top category, sparring male black belt heavy- and hyper weight, the decision peaked in a thrilling final. Rhuarid Maccullam (V. Dan), Christian Sigl (IV. Dan) and Gerald Bauer (III. Dan) fought desperately to achieve victory. After the 2nd round all three held by one win and one loss and the jury president decided to decide the winner in „Sudden Death“ mode, were the first acknowledged point determines the winner. Christian Sigl grasped victory due to his fast turning kicks.
To get more information about the tournament and other activities launched by ITF Austria, please visit our website www.itf-austria.at.
