Tae Kwon Do medals for Amanda and Tyler

Tae Kwon Do medals for Amanda and Tyler

TWO Tae Kwon Do students from Banbridge have brought home medals from the World Championships in the Telford International Centre.

Amanda Hylands won silver with her team in the ladies middleweight division and Tyler Evans brought home gold in his debut competition with his team in the boys team event.

Over 1700 competitors took part from 20 countries including South Korea, the home of Tae Kwon Do. At the tournament was Master C. K. Choi, who trained under Major General Choi Hung Hi, the creator of TKD. Master C. K. Choi was one of the pioneers of Tae Kwon Do in the early days in Korea.

Amanda and Tyler were part of the 30-strong Northern Ireland squad consisting of females, adults and children.

The squad trains in Banbridge every Sunday with people travelling from all over the country to attend. In addition to this the students have regular classes twice a week. Classes in Banbridge take place on a Tuesday and Friday night, 5:30-6:30pm for children and 6:30-7:30pm for adults.

These classes allow students to develop their skills in all areas of Tae Kwon Do with many students showing great potential for future competitions.

Two students from Banbridge brought home medals this year.

Two other students, Antoine and Julien Funes also rose to the occasion and fought well in their divisions, unfortunately missing out on medals. Antoine is also due to grade in the coming year and will hopefully fight at Black Belt level in the next World Championships.

Several members of the squad from other local clubs also brought home medals. Cloideach Rafferty from Newry won bronze in the girls sparring and narrowly missed out on a medal for her pattern. From Holywood club Sheena Mann won gold in the ladies red belt heavyweight and Ross Cowan and Jemma Currie both won silver in their respective divisions. Dylan Megaw from the Ballymena club was by far the best fighter in his division (boys blue belt heavyweight) and took home gold.

Craig Neeson, who trains with his dad train in Antrim, fought well to lift bronze in his division (boys red belt heavyweight). Craig will also hopefully be stepping up to Black Belt level for the next world champs. Dylan and Craig also won gold medals as part of the boys sparring team with Tyler Evans.

The next major tournament is British Championships on October 28 which, unfortunately the team will not be able to attend due to a lack of funding. However, they will be aiming to impress at the English Championships in March 2011, The Holland Cup in May and the All Ireland Championships at the end of April.

Many of the fighters would like to thank their local councils for their help in part funding their participation in this event including Banbridge, Armagh, Ballymena and Antrim Borough Councils who helped fighters out on an individual basis.

Master Mike Dew, eighth degree Black Belt, Vice-Chairman of the TAGB and grading examiner for the Northern Ireland area said that this is the best squad yet to be sent from Northern Ireland.

Adam Askew, third degree black belt and TAGB NI squad coach promises this is only the start for the squad. "The hard work by everyone during training has paid off and was visible in the ring," he said.

"The fighters have done themselves proud and I'm very impressed with everyone's performance. The success at this competition is a sign of big things to come for the NI team."

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