On saturday 9th March 2013 took place the II Open Barcelona Cup Fuji Mae in Sant Vicenç dels Horts, Barcelona. During this 2nd edition we have welcomed twice the number of participating countries than we did in the first edition. We would like to thank representatives from Belgium, England, France, Switzerland, Italy and Scotland. Our guests started to arrive to Barcelona on wednesday, having enough time to enjoy our good weather and all tourist places our city has to offer.

I would like to remark the presence of Master Frank Vanberghen from Belgium, Master Mark Hutton from Scotland and Master Ray Nicolaisen who, although he had no competitors, stopped by to say hello and we want to express our sincere thanks. I would like to thank Instructors Annick Van Driessche from Belgium and Andrea Cendron from Italy for his important job as umpire during the entire day.

The competition took place in a great atmosphere, where friendship, respect and joy were always present. All competitors, coaches and umpires had the possibility to gather together for lunch during the lunch break. This year the organising committee prepared two gigantic “fideua” (tradition spanish meal with seafood) together with salads, starters and dessert.

On saturday night all school representatives received a surprise before going to our usual “Friendship Dinner”. We had a city tour around Barcelona City in two fancy limousines. We had a stop at Sagrada Familia Church to take pictures and then we returned to Sant Vicenç dels Horts for an unforgetable dinner.

I would like to thank everyone who made this event come true, to our sponsor Fuji Mae for its constant support, to all competitors, instructors, coachs, umpires and supporters that were present, giving a perfect frame for the event along the entire day.

José Carlos Revelles
Organiser

Participating Clubs from Spain:
Hwa Rang Do - Club Taijitu – Club Taekwon-Do Reus - Club Juche Kwan - Club In Nae Do - Grupo Banega - Club Hana Almería - Gimnasio Seúl Cantabria – Gimnasio Benialgar y Club Tae Benidorm.

Comments from our Internations Guests:

“We had a very pleasant trip. We were at the hotel from Wednesday to Monday. The proximity of the train station allowed us to easily get to Barcelona. We visited the city on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. It is a very beautiful city. We loved the competition and friendly spirit. Saturday evening was extraordinary, including Limousine City Tour. The atmosphere during dinner was very good, we laughed a lot. Thanks again for the good moments spent in Barcelona”.
Nicolas Fagon – France

“Many thanks for the warm welcome this weekend, Jose Carlos and the rest of the team did a wonderful job. We hope to come back next year. At the moment we're still enjoying Barcelona, such a nice city, such nice people. It was a very well organized championship, very relaxed, a very nice and friendly athmosphere, with eye for all details like the lunch, the opening ceremony, the gift for the umpires and coaches, etc. Also the competitors liked this championship a lot, they really enjoyed it”.
Annick Van Driessche – Belgium

“Perfect organization!”.
Andrea Cendron – Italy

“Thank you for inviting all of ITF France to the Barcelona Cup 2013. Whether we won medals or not we all returned home with a feeling of having been made to feel very welcome in Barcelona. From the email communication before the tournament, the airport transfers, the tournament itself and the friendship dinner, everything was well planned and organised. We also felt that the tournament fee was great value considering the food and drinks that were included. As mentioned by Instructor José Carlos Revelles during the coaches meeting, the goal of the tournament was to have fun, and you certainly reached this goal as the result was a friendly, fun and safe tournament for everyone to enjoy. The atmosphere was convivial and we all had a very warm Spanish welcome. Our instructors and club representatives particularly enjoyed the friendship dinner with the surprise that was organised. We're looking forward to next year's Barcelona Cup and hope to bring even more competitors!”.
Lylian Doulay and Anthony Meynet - France