Trenic Compete at the Holland Open Championships

On the 19th October 4 members of Trenic TKD, Ms Laurie Cornwell (5th Degree), Mr Jamie McAvoy (3rd Degree), Mr Luke Dempsey (3rd Degree) and Ms Gemma O’Connor (3rd Degree) along with Region 1 competitor Ms Umbreen Khan (1st Degree) set off to Heathrow airport to fly to Holland for the Haaglanden Open. Members from region 1 were joined by fellow Team UK competitors from region 4 and 5 Jake Stevens, Joshua Harris, Adam Everett and Jamie Martin to participate in the tournament. After landing in Amsterdam and being greeted by Master Zondag who kindly drove us to the hotel, members of Trenic TKD after checking into the hotel, decided upon an early night before the start of the competition in the next day. After a good night’s sleep and waking up feeling refreshed competitors were ready to start the day, and after managing to find directions to the venue we all jumped into a taxi for the 15 minute journey to meet up with the rest of Team UK. Arriving at the venue and all weighed in we were joined by Master Nicholls and Mr Reece Nicholls who had flown in that morning along with our umpire for the day Mr Mark Richards.

Competition under way and we found out that day that we would be joined by the other ITF styles of Taekwondo so for us this was going to be a good experience to see how the other styles were different or the same as us. First up were patterns with Mr Dempsey and Mr McAvoy taking the mat for third degree patterns. Unfortunately after performing a very good pattern Mr Dempsey just falls short of a medal position with Mr McAvoy stepping up next and managing to gain a bronze medal to start off the medal tally for the Trenic team. Up next was Ms O’Connor who was asked to go down to 2nd Degree Patterns and managed to make in through the Quarters and the Semis to make it into the final and coming away with a silver medal for the team. Ms Khan after giving her pattern her best doesn’t manage to gain a medal, but more experience in an international environment. Up next was sparring with everyone wanting to gain on the medals won in patterns and stepping up on to the mat first was Umbreen and after weighing in at -50kg she found out the competition would be done by the old ITF weights and she would be fighting -60kg. Stepping into the ring Umbreen was ready to fight hard for just 1 minute 30 seconds, and after putting up a great fight she just missed out on a place in the final, but managed to find a spot to fight for third place. She faced a Dutch girl for the third place medal and giving it her all, she just missed out on the medal, but enjoyed her fight against an experienced fighter. Up next was Ms Cornwell, an experienced fighter on the international stage. Feeling ready for her fight Ms Cornwell stepped onto the ring and gave it her all, she had a very good fight and had a competitor that fought her well. Unfortunately at the end of the round Ms Cornwell missed out on the win, but came off the ring feeling very happy with her fight and gaining a bronze medal for the team. Fighting next was Gemma, with her semi-final fight being someone she has fought at previous competitions. Winning her semis, Gemma advanced to the final and after a hard 1 minute and 30 seconds against Belgium she had to settle with the Silver Medal for the Team UK tally.

With the ladies all finished it was the turn of the men to take to the ring. Jamie stepped up first and feeling ready to get back into a Taekwondo ring, managed to get through his quarters and semi-final rounds with wins over Holland. Making it into the final, Jamie fought another Dutch Male and fighting well and feeling confident managed to get the win and add a Gold to the Trenic medal tally. To finish the day for the Trenic Team, Luke took to the ring fighting up a weight category. Luke fought hard for the round but with a close decision the decision unfortunately went against Luke, but came off head held high with a good performance.

The Trenic team found the trip to Holland an experience and a good competition being able to fight other competitors from different countries and organisations. We would like to thank Master Zondag (Royal Dutch) and the competition organisers for inviting the UKITF to their open championships. We would also like to thank Mr Richards for umpiring and Mr Nicholls for coaching us all, plus Master Nicholls, Ms Nicholls for their continual support and guidance.