Warwick Taekwondo smash their way to Unichamps silver

On 3 December 2016, Warwick Taekwondo took part in the Taekwondo University Championships which, this year, was held at Loughborough University. In total, five universities took part in the event, all vying for the coveted first place shield. With around 100 competitors, the competition was fierce from the start.

This year, Warwick Taekwondo’s 16 competitors bought home an incredible 17 medals – seven gold, five silver and five bronze. Each gold medal earned the team three points, with silver and bronze giving two and one respectively. This amounted to an average of 2.25 medal points per person, highlighting the outstanding efforts of every member of the team. Warwick Taekwondo came second overall, with their weighted average of 1.78 just falling short of the average of 1.9 of the first placed team. But as they had almost three times the number of competitors, it was still a very proud day for Warwick Taekwondo!

Patterns, sparring and destruction.

The day started off with Patterns, which are best described as a series of Taekwondo moves performed in front of judges. Each competitor goes head to head with another competitor until an overall winner is decided. As the first competition of the day there were undoubtedly some nerves, especially among the beginners for whom this was their first ever Taekwondo competition.

Everyone fought their hardest and did the club proud.

Yet they rose to the occasion and performed admirably. Warwick won two golds and two bronze medals, with Tu Quang Huy and Ming Xiu bringing home the golds and Sado Nuuer and Abigail Richards both winning Bronze. All the competitors performed their patterns to the best of their abilities to set up a great day for the club.

Image: Warwick Taekwondo

Following patterns, the competition moved to sparring. This was the most anticipated part of the day, where competitors fight one on one to score points with kicks and punches to the head and chest areas. The competitor with the most points at the end of the two minute round wins the fight. Competitors are organised into categories based on grade (skill level) and weight and there are medals available for each category.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Warwick absolutely smashed the sparring competition, winning a total of 8 medals – four golds, two silvers and two bronzes. Everyone rose to the challenge, especially the newcomers to the sport, with Angelika Rola and Ziling Cheng both winning Silver medals in the beginner categories. Everyone fought their hardest and did the club proud.

The final event of the day was destruction. This event combines both technique and skill, as competitors attempt to break boards of varying thickness using both hand and foot techniques, making this portion of the competition arguably the toughest. As a result, it is only available for the higher grades to enter, giving a standard for beginners to aim at. Once again Warwick Taekwondo did incredibly well, winning four medals in an impressive display.

Pride and progress.

Club president Thomas Hart was understandably delighted: “I’m hugely proud of everyone who took part. We improved on our position of third place in last year’s competition, which is something in its own right. I was also very impressed by the heart and determination shown by our beginners, allowing them to do incredibly well in a number of events.”

Congratulations are certainly in order for everyone who took part. The team spirit and supportive atmosphere made Unichamps an excellent first competition for many of our team – the club is very proud of the efforts and achievements of everyone who took part.