Euros 2011 HQ Report [November 1st, 2011]

The 17th Junior and 26th Senior European Championships were organized in an unusual time of the year on 20th – 23rd October 2011. The last time the European Championships took place in October was 27 years ago in Budapest in 1984. This deferment was caused by the fact that the ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships 2011 were held from 9th – 11th March 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand. Due to the high expense it was important to give time to the federations to raise funds for the Euros which is why it was organised later in the year.

The main organizer was Slovak Taekwon-Do Union led by Mr. Ladislav Hunady. Three persons, Mr. Ladislav Hunady, the President, Mr. Jozef Kotulak, the Secretary General and Mrs. Mária Janigová, the Treasurer bore the whole responsibility of organization. The Organizing Committee consisted of more people.
We wrote about the preparation of the Euros 2011 in the AETF Newsletter 3/2011 on 15th September 2011, link: http://www.itfeurope.org/NL2011-03-33.html.
The hosts used gained valuable experience from last Open European Cup held on 21st – 24th October 2010 in Bratislava and organized the whole event on a higher administrative level.

Photo: Jerzy Jedut

From left: Mr. Ladislav Hunady, the President of General Slovak Taekwon-Do Union, Mr. Jozef Kotulak, the Secretary of General Slovak Taekwon-Do Union, Master Tadeusz Łoboda, AETF President

The registration point was at the City Bratislava Hotel. Before 10th of October 2011 all the teams had to register their members on-line. Based on the data inserted to the on-line registration the calculations and invoices were prepared by the computer programme. The AETF staff collected the payments for the entry fee and annual fee. Some of the countries still wanted to make corrections, which were done after the payment of the penalty. All the countries were aware that there is a fine for each change after the deadline. Registration went well and without any problems.

Payments for accommodation, board and transportation from the airport were collected by the representatives of Slovak Taekwon-Do Union. 60 percent of the amount had been transferred by bank before 1st September 2011. Only the rest of the amount and payments for transportation were collected. Many teams arrived by their own coaches or cars. The registration of the accommodation and board went smoothly.

The weak point was that the participants were lodged at three different hotels situated about 10 km from each other and about 5 km from the Sports Hall. The conditions of accommodation and the board were satisfying.

The weigh in started on Thursday morning 19th October. The Tournament and Umpire Committee first went to do the weigh in at Mercure hotel for 4 teams at 6.30am-8.00am then they went to City Hotel, where was the registration point to continue the weigh in. All teams completed the weigh in by 2pm. There was no stress or long queues in the weigh in and it went very smoothly with 3 weigh in stations.

On 20th October 2011 at the City Hotel Bratislava the AETF Congress took place in which the representatives of 33 countries participated, out of which 30 had the voting rights, as follows: Austria, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Wales. At the meeting 8 AETF Board of Directors and 3 Members of AETF Revisory Committee were present and the following guests: Master Juan Ferrando, ITF Secretary General and GM Willem Jacob Bos, ITF Board of Director, Master Per Andressen and Master Per Christian Garnaes from Norway, Mr. Stephen Ryan and Mr. Adrian Byrne from Ireland, Mr. Slavko Jereb and Mr. Ernest Hedegus from Croatia, Mr. Zvezdan Milenkovic and Mr. Andrijan Tasic from Serbia and Mr. Parviz Mamedov from Kazkhstan.

Photo: Katarzyna Rozwadowska

AETF Board Director from left: Mr. Lazaros Tsilfidis, Master Tadeusz Łoboda - AETF President, Master Coos v/d Heuvel - AETF Vicepresident, Master Jerzy Jedut AETF - Secretary General, Master Juan Ferrando - ITF Secretary General, Mr. Tomaz Barada, Ms. Mimmi Oskarsson, Mr. Philip Lear, Master Carmine Caiazzo

The organizers prepared for each delegate a T-shirt with the logo of championships, a white wine with the logo of Euros 2011 and a doll dressed in Slovak national costume and the official poster of Championships as souvenirs. Board Members additionally received alpenstocks with Euros 2011 Bratislava engraved on it.

AETF HQ prepared two pendants made by Mr. Andrzej Undro form Wroclawska Akademia Taekwon-Do, one with a sophisticated logo of the ITF and one with AETF logo in a special presentation box and every country received 6 pins with the logo of its Federation.

On behalf of AETF Board of Directors Master Tadeusz Loboda handed to Master Coos van den Heuvel and Master Giovanni Cecconato the appreciation letters for their work respectively as the Chairman and the Member of AETF Tournament and Umpire Committee in the term 2004 - 2011and congratulation letters to newly elected Presidents of national associations Master Panagiotis Gialamas, the President of Hellenic "Quadrathlon" Federation I.T.F. and Master Carmine Caiazzo, the President of Federazione Italiana Taekwon-Do.

Athletic Hall Elan was the venue for the championships. There were 7 squares prepared. Competitors had enough space to warm up. The central ring was on a platform and was decorated with the banner of ITF and AETF as well as the photo of Gen. Choi Hong Hi, which were hanging above. On the other side was hanging the banner of Slovak Taekwon-Do Union, a big name of the event and flags of all the participating countries. Also the table for the tournament and umpire committee and the press centre was on the platform. A special podium for the awarding ceremony was arranged. The sports hall had its own climate and was cool for the competitors. The atmosphere was great and in the opinion of many participants although it was not as modern as the one where the Open European Cup was held last year, it was much more attractive and functional.

The main sponsor was Top Ten, which provided all the tatamies and 70 sets of equipment for competitors and put a stand where all interested could purchase sport equipment to practice Taekwon-Do. There was also a stand of Mr. Andrzej Undro with Taekwon-Do gadgets, games, pins, T-shirts, pendants and other merchandising products.

The machines for special techniques, power tests, clocks presenting scores and computer service were rented from the Polish Taekwon-Do Association.

The press service was posting up to date results and classifications on the website. Many photo reporters were working at the hall and the photos will be available soon on our website.

Photo: Jerzy Jedut

From left: Mrs. Agnieszka Mazur, Master Tadeusz Łoboda - AETF President, Master Per Andressen, Master Panagiotis Gialamas, GM Wilem Jacob Bos, Ms. Tiziana Mimmocchi, Master Jose M. Martinez, Master Juan Ferrando, ITF Secretary General, Mr. Lazaros Tsilfidis, Mr. Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov, Mr. Pavlov Vladimir Nikolaevich

485 competitors representing 30 countries took part, 275 Seniors from 28 countries and 210 Juniors also from 28 countries, 95 coaches were accompanying them. 58 referees were umpiring on this competition and 50 officials attended that event.

34 competitors took part in the division Junior Male 1st Degree, which was the highest number of participating competitors in a single category. The smallest category, with only one competitor was Junior Female 3rd Degree.

In senior medal general classification:

Best female senior tied:

Photo: Jerzy Jedut

Musca Andreea from Belgium,
1 gold, 1 bronze

Scheffel Viviane from Germany,
1 gold, 1 bronze

Best male senior:
was not selected because 8 competitors gained the same number of medals.

Best female team senior:

Poland

2 gold

1 bronze

Photo: Jerzy Jedut

From left: Julia Sakowska, Waldemar Dolecki - coach, Magdalena Kosobudzka, Gabriela Offman, Aleksandra Nowak, Ilona Omiecińska, Anna Dąbrowska, Ilona Działa, Grzegorz Ozimek - coach, Joanna Paprocka is missing due to the injury

Best male team senior:

Romania

1 gold

1 silver

1 bronze

Photo: Katarzyna Rozwadowska

From left: Master Tadeusz Loboda, Marius Oltean, Iosif Iuhos, Cosmin Oprescu, Robert Szervaczius, Sorin Miron, Cristian Popa, Szilard Incze, Marius Ionicescu, Ionut Achim, Marcel Miron, Artur Meizel, Dan Olaru and Alexandru Muresan

Overall classification for senior:

1. Poland

7 gold

5 silver

7 bronze

2. Slovenia

5 gold

1 bronze

3. Germany

4 gold

1 silver

3 bronze

In junior medal general classification:

Best female junior:

Photo: Jerzy Jedut

Coonghe Naomi from Ireland,
2 gold

Wieleba Michał from Poland,
1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze

Best female team junior:

Poland

2 gold

1 silver

1 bronze

Photo: Jerzy Jedut

Klaudia Szczepaniuk, Natalia Olszak, Justyna Szajuk, Paula Piotrowska, Anna Kucharska, Monika Chwalewska

Best male team junior:

Poland

1 gold

2 silver

1 bronze

Photo: Katarzyna Rozwadowska

From the left: Mr. Jacek Wąchała - coach, Mateusz Mróz, Michał Fliszewski, Kamil Badura, Bartosz Guz, Łukasz Stefanik, Michał Wieleba, Tomasz Kiezik, Mateusz Bęben, Michał Korzybski - coach

Overall classification for junior:

1. Ireland

8 gold

3 silver

3 bronze

2. Poland

5 gold

6 silver

6 bronze

3. Russian Federation

3 gold

4 silver

16 bronze

Although many well-known and titled competitors finished their sports career after the World Championships in Wellington, New Zealand like Dariusz and Tomasz Idzikowski, Joanna Lipa, some did not come to Bratislava like Katya Solovey from Ukraine, Euros 2011 was on a very high sports level. It was very hard to win a medal.

Mr. Philip Lear replaced Master Coos van den Huevel from the Netherlands in the position of the Chairman AETF T&U Committee and Mr. Harry Van Schaik replaced Master Giovanni Cecconato from Italy as a Member of abovementioned committee. Master Sandy Dunbar from Scotland was the only person who was continuing the position and shared the experience. Although with a very short time for preparation, the new committee acted in a very professional way. They implemented some new solutions which brought positive effects for conduction of the championships. First of all they introduced the seeding in the individual special techniques and power test categories. This shortened the time of both divisions by about 3 hours. They conducted two surveys, one among coaches and the other among referees. This in a result will bring improvements in organization of championships in the upcoming years. We got very positive feedback regarding their work and the one below received from Mr. Pekka Varis, coach of National Finnish Team was not a rarity:

Chairman of the Tournament and Umpire Committee Mr Philip Lear would also like to thank the referees for their hard work as it was a real pleasure to work with umpires who love and have a passion for refereeing and really wanted to be there. He would also like to thank the coaches of the national teams who were very cooperative with some changes that were made and resolving issues.

Thanks also to Master Dunbar for his valuable experience and to Mr van Schaik for giving up his family holiday to be a member of the committee. Finally a big thank you to the support of the AETF and Mr Darek Dzaman where nothing was ever too much of a problem and they were very fast in printing out the draws.

During final gala on Saturday at 18.00 was held the Opening Ceremony of the Euros 2011. The VIP box was taken Master Juan Ferrando, ITF Secretary General, GM Willem Jacob Bos, ITF Director, Mr. Pavlov Vladimir Nikolaevich, the Chief of Department of Sports Ministry of Sport in Russia, Mr. Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov, four-times Olympic Champion in Biathlon, Mr. Baskin Boris Solomonovich, The Chairman of Trust Committee of All Russia Taekwon-Do Federation, Mr. Anatoly Konstantinovich Terekhov, Member of WTF Council, Board of Director of European Taekwondo Union, as well as Masters and other representatives of member countries who added the splendour to the Championships by their presence.

Between the final bouts there were dance and acrobatic performances and awarding ceremonies of finalists.

Representatives of the ITF Board Directors and AETF Board Directors with the honorary guests went to an official dinner.

After the finals all referees and the delegates were invited by the organizers to the Baronka Hotel for a banquet. The Organizing Committee wanted to thank to all referees for their hard and good work during this Championships. Besides music and good food there were short dance performances. The evening passed in a nice and friendly atmosphere.

Euros 2011 ended on Sunday about 5 pm with the Awarding Ceremony where the trophies for best competitors, teams, countries and the championships were awarded. The Championships were finished with the after party for all the participants which was held at the City Bratislava Hotel.

Overall classification for junior and senior:
Photo: Katarzyna Rozwadowska
1. Poland	12 gold	11 silver	13 bronze
2. Ireland	8 gold	5 silver	8 bronze
3. Slovenia	8 gold	2 silver	4 bronze