Taekwondo excel in national championships

Warwick Taekwondo may not be competing in the upcoming Varsity series, but they are celebrating after a remarkable performance at the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) English Championships in Stoke.

On Saturday 15 February, they managed to come home with 13 medals from their nine competitors – two gold medals, four silver and seven bronze.

Elizabeth Weale and Sophie Webster clinched victory in Patterns, and Elizabeth also won bronze in Sparring.

The medal list was lengthy. Peter Davies won silver in Sparring, Pamela Chia won silver in Sparring and Patterns, while Robyn Wootton won silver in Sparring and bronze in Patterns.

There were also bronze medals for Haseeb Majid (bronze in both), captain Jonny May (sparring), Sian McDonnell (sparring) and Alexandra Wishart (sparring).

After winning gold, Sophie admitted that it was “actually the best fight of my life”.

“I felt really pumped for it and I went out there and fought as hard as possible. I could really feel my training pay off. It was so satisfying when I landed a spinning kick to my opponent’s head!” she laughed.

Meanwhile Elizabeth attributed her victory to her team-mates’ assistance in training.

“I was very surprised to win patterns,” she admitted. “Thanks for that go to my teammates Haseeb (Majid), Peter (Davies) and Pamela (Chia) for repeatedly drilling my pattern in the corridor outside the competition – it was definitely a team effort.

“The competition was attended by European champions and it was a great opportunity to have a close look at their technique in sparring.”

Meanwhile captain Jonny May, to whom the Boar spoke earlier this year, spoke of his pride at his team-mates’ performance.

“There was very tough competition, including some European fighters, but everyone performed to their best and they should be proud of themselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, debutant Pamela – who won silver in both events – said she will use her success here as a springboard in further competitions.

“It was my first Taekwondo tournament in the UK and I was really glad I participated in it. The exposure and experience I gained from it was phenomenal and I definitely learned a lot from the other competitors.”