Niketa Wells - International Taekwon-do Federation of New Zealand
Niketa Wells - International Taekwon-do Federation of New Zealand
Niketa Wells - International Taekwon-do Federation of New Zealand
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FEATURECarl van Roonamazing to see most <strong>of</strong> the finalists takeout their divisions!Saturday night was set-aside for “finalsnight”. This was the first time this kind <strong>of</strong>event has taken place in <strong>Taekwon</strong>-Do. Thefinals <strong>of</strong> the so-called “glamour events”were displayed. The arena was rearrangedand an elevated stage was installed. Thegrand masters had ringside seats andeveryone else watched on from thestands. The houselights were extinguishedand spotlights were placed on the mainstage. It felt like an international boxingevent, complete with the competitorsentering the ring to music. The eventwas recorded with television qualitycameras and compiled onto a DVD. <strong>New</strong><strong>Zealand</strong> participated in two events duringthe finals night, with Miss Estelle Speirscompeting in sparring and Messrs MarkTrotter and Carl Van Roon competing inpre-arranged sparring. This night was madeeven sweeter when the kiwis won gold inboth categories!Sunday’s team events showed stiffcompetition for <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>. Despiteeverything, <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> managed to winsilver in senior female coloured belt teamsparring and in pre-junior black belt teamsparring. The senior female black belts alsoperformed spectacularly well and wonbronze in team patterns.Overall, our tiny country did fantasticallywell. <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> has been fiercecompetition in patterns for the better part<strong>of</strong> the last decade. This showed throughwith the strong performances from allpatterns competitors. <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>’sreputation as a world power in this fieldwas truly maintained. In fact, 44% <strong>of</strong> ourgold medals were from patterns, so wedid not disappoint.Where <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> really proveditself this year was in its sparring effort.Apart from a few stellar performances inprevious international competitions, <strong>New</strong><strong>Zealand</strong> has been unable to <strong>do</strong>minatein the event. This year <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>earned 13 medals in sparring, with six <strong>of</strong>them being gold! Although unsurprising,considering the amount <strong>of</strong> training thatour competitors have been <strong>do</strong>ing, this isa fantastic achievement and this figure willonly continue to improve.To the results then! <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> finishedsecond overall with 18 golds, 15 silvers and12 bronze medals.The best overall organisation title wentto the Irish <strong>Taekwon</strong>-Do Association andFetra, from Argentina, rounded out thetop three.Finishing second overall is an incredibleachievement for <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>,considering we had 54 competitors fromour organisation, while Fetra had 94competitors and the Irish <strong>Taekwon</strong>-DoAssociation had a whopping 142! This trulysets us in good stead with the worldwideITF community and is very promisingfor <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>’s next World Champscampaign to Spain!20TAEKWON-DO TALK MAGAZINE