Yesterday, a small group of Imperial fighters made the short journey along the M25 to St Albans to take part in the South East Open Championships.

With major events such as “Battle Royale”, (the Imperial National Team Championships) in May, and the Imperial Scottish Championships, and the European Championships in June, many were keen to get as much tournament practice in as possible.

As it was an Open Championship, entry was open to all styles of Taekwon-Do as opposed to just traditional ITF practioners. This left officials with the thankless task of trying to judge the contrasting interpretation of the traditional patterns created by General Choi.

Nonetheless, Imperial made a formidable start to the day, getting first and second place in both the Black belt divisions; 1st and 2nd Degree black belts, and 3rd Degree and above. These top four places in the most senior pattern categories, made it clear that the high technical standards, which Master Nicholls continues to demand of all the members of our group, is being maintained.

The sparring divisions also brought rich rewards, with Matthew Brunger winning the Junior Black Belt division and Nicholas Gardner winning the Men’s Heavyweight Black Belt division. For both this capped off an impressive personal performance, as these were their second gold medals of the day, having both won their respective patterns divisions as well. A further gold medal was won in the ladies 6th to 4th Kup sparring by Preeti Pandya, after an impressive performance in what was a very competitive division.

Special thanks must be extended to Master Nicholls. In the last three weeks alone, he has flown over 10,000 miles, teaching in three different continents to honour the commitments that his position as an ITF 8th Degree Master brings, yet he still found time to come and support the entire team for the whole day.

All in all it was a very successful day for the group, a full list of all medals winners will follow in due course.

Report by: Mr Johann de Silva IV