5 members of the Isle of Wight Tae Kwon-Do Club travelled to Swindon on Saturday 8th February to take part in the Professional Union of Martial Arts (PUMA) 2020 Open International Tae Kwon-Do Tournament.
The event was excellently run as always with around 400 competitors from far and wide attending.
The tournament got off to a great start with Joe Ramskill winning gold in the Men’s 1st and 2nd degree Black Belt pattern category. Patterns are a set of pre-arranged techniques for defence and attack and points are awarded for correct technique, power and focus when performing. The good start to the day continued with Chief Instructor, Pete Scotcher, winning gold in the Men’s 5th degree Black Belt and above category, beating a 6th degree Black belt in the final to claim his 5th International title.
Next came the black belt sparring groups with Joe Ramskill narrowly missing out on a podium place and Pete Scotcher winning Bronze in his category.
The afternoon saw the arrival of the colour belt groups and tournament debutant, Arthur Poucher won bronze in his pattern group and fought with great skill and heart in the final of his sparring group and won gold in his first-ever tournament.
Another tournament newcomer, Frances Katirewa, won bronze in a tough and high standard patterns group and showed no nerves in her sparring group and won Silver after a closely fought final.
In the last events of the day, Hayley Katirewa, performed very well in her patterns group against much higher grades and was unlucky not to get a podium place, however, she more than made up for it by winning her sparring final against a higher grade and much heavier and hard hitting opponent.
The final tally was 4 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 bronze and everyone did themselves and the club proud.
Isle of Wight Tae Kwon-Do has been running for over 21 years now and has classes across the island, 6 days a week. Further details can be found at www.iowtkd.com and beginners are welcome with the first lesson being free at all venues.
