BackImperial Ireland's World Champion.

It was the first World championships that Imperial Ireland members Bernadette Doyle and John O' Connor had ever attended but it was successful beyond belief for both of them. Accompanied by their Instructor Mick Flaherty who was acting as their coach, they set off with high hopes.

Winning medals at any championships is never an easy thing to do, winning medals at the World Taekwon Do Championships was just a dream, but that changed once Bernadette Doyle scored the first points against her opponent from the USA in the sparring event,and it was going to be very hard to stop her. It was a clear winning margin of 14 points in the end. With only three minutes rest between bouts, Bernadette proved that ll those endless hours of training for the past five months were going to come in handy against her next opponent from England. It was a hard contest here with points very tight at the end of the first round, however, Imperial Ireland's built on pride and determination, so Bernadette fought really well in the second round against Vicky Hart, proving to be too strong for her opponent, and going on to be the worthy winner and first Senior Female Heavyweight World Champion. Gold medal in the bag and with spirits high, Bernadette went on to win a second medal, this time it was a Bronze, as part of the Ireland Female Power Team.

 Meanwhile, not to be outdone, John O' Connor put up performances in both Patterns and Sparring that were well above expectations. In Patterns, he beat competitor's from Sweden and Scotland before bowing out to Italy, whilst in Sparring, he stopped his opponent from the USA in the second round, outpointed a Croatian before losing narrowly against an Argentinian fighter. These were fantastic results and a sign of things to come for future championships. John did manage to secure a place on the podium as part of the Ireland Male Breaking team picking up a Bronze medal.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us in Korea and to say congratulations to all Imperial members who won medals. Next stop Reading and the British Championships.