Team UK have enjoyed a highly successfull first day at the ITF World Championships in Ottawa, Canada.

The team left Gatwick Tuesday 7th Aug & arrived into Ottawa airport at around 2.30pm ready to register & weigh in at 6pm. All went smoothly & the team headed off for food & sleep before day 1 of competition.

Today (Wed 8th Aug) was started by an interesting opening cermony in which selected Team UK competitors participated in a country parade with their flags. The ceremony was finalised with a unique song that was written especially for the Canada World Championships. After a short break competition began.

Male & female juniors were to start the event off with patterns. All competitors put up strong performances & were rewarded with the following medals;

Adam Everett Bronze 3rd Degree boys patterns

Sam Richards Bronze 3rd Degree boys patterns

Ben Tovey Bronze 1st Degree boys patterns

Beth Martin Silver 3rd Degree girls patterns

Charlie Bradford-Gibbs Silver 2nd Degree girls patterns

The competition swiflty moved into sparring & our experienced juniors did not disapoint. All put up great fights showing the true spirit & technique that we have become accustom to over the past few years. UK ITF then found ourself with four new World Champions! All excellent results below;

Ben Tovey Bronze Middleweight boys sparring

Beth Martin Gold Middleweight girls sparring

Brad Robertson Gold Hyperweight boys sparring

Robyn Hough Gold Lightweight girls sparring

Sophie Donnelly Gold Heavyweight girls sparring

The day was cut short at 6.30pm to present the junior girls medals, where the team UK supporters got to test their lungs out three times to our national anthem.

The junior boys heavy & welter weight categories were still in process when they called an end to the day & these will commence in the morning with Adam Everett & Billy Smith having won one fight each in the welter weight section. Also Sam Richards & Josh Harris were about to battle it out together for a place in the next round!

We look forward to our next days competition where the seniors will take to the floor along with the junior teams. Good luck to all.