Newsletter 1/2016
Report from Open Dutch 2016
On Sunday the 26th of January it was finally time for the next edition of the Open Dutch taekwon-do championships in Best at sports hall Naestebest. We started the tournament with 544 competitors, 148 coaches, people from 12 different countries and competitors from 60 different teams. Needless to say, but organizers Mr. Henny van Zon and Master Willy van de Mortel were once again very proud.
Head referee Master Coos van den Heuvel and Master Willy van de Mortel opened the tournament. During the opening Master James Tjin A Ton received a certificate for successfully completing the official NOC*NSF (Dutch Olympic Organization) Z-ITF course. Congratulations!
After a warm welcome to many special guest and competitors from the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, France, Norway, Finland, Italy and Slovenia the tournament got started with Tuls.
This year both halls used electronic systems, very similar to last year with the big differentiator being that this year the systems were hard wired as with the size of the hall a wireless network would not be stable. The electronic systems worked well, and we would like to thank Master Harry Vones from Germany for coming over to the Netherlands again to help train the people behind the table and train the 60+ umpires. Of course, also for setting up the system!
The full schedule of the tournament was published a couple of days before the event so we were able to stick to the timelines for most of the areas. We’ve seen some great matches between the different competitors and the different teams.
The full results of the day can be found here:
A couple we want to point out in particular. There were many competitors who won a medal at the European and World Championships, it truly was the tournament to test yourself against the best. Lylian Doulay, reigning European Champion Tuls (4-6th Dan), also managed to walk away with the gold medal in Best just like the 2015 edition. (With Jonathan Morris and Mike O’Keeffe coming in as 2nd and 3rd respectively.) With sparring junior Al Amin Rmadan, current European and World Champion managed to claim victory in the up to 75kg category. And Valery Ayala Trujillo, placed 2nd and 3rd at the World Championships, managed to grab the first place with sparring in the +60kg category (up to 3rd Dan) and a first place with patterns!
Last one we want to mention was the very exciting finals in the -70kg category up to 6th Dan. From Slovenia, and recently moved from junior to senior call, Petar Spasenic (2nd place European Championships junior) won the finals against Difesa Sports member Bryan van de Westelaken. (former European and World Cup Champion and 3rd on the WC). What an achievement, and what a great talent! Congratulations Petar!
Team sparring was also extremely exciting this year. Junior Female up to 3rd Dan was won by Taekwon-Do Academy Graziella Idili with NTA Scotland at the second place. Senior Female up to 6th Dan was won by Rivervalley Taekwondo Club with Clare ITA coming in second. And finally Team Sparring Senior Male up to 6th DAN was won by DNMAA Kisport – TCN with Clare ITA coming in second and Difesa Sports coming in third.
Overall winners of the tournaments were Taekwon-Do team Vrijsen / van Buel Sport for the colored belts category and Rivervalley Taekwon-Do club from Ireland for the black belts category!
For all photos and videos visit our website www.open-dutch.nl or our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OpenDutch2016/.
Special thanks to all volunteers, first aid group, sports bar, sports hall and everybody who helped us during this fantastic weekend. It takes a lot of work and dedication from many volunteers to pull off an event like this and without you this would not be possible. We hope we can count on you again next year!
We want to thank all of our visitors from abroad and we hope to see you all at the “Open Dutch Championships 2017”.
Mr. Henny van Zon & Master Willy van de Mortel
Organizers Open Dutch Championships
