News

This year the Leinster Open Championshps were held outside Dublin for the first time. Hosted by IUTF Wexford's Chief Instructor, Mr Michael Flaherty. Junior divisions were also included where previously this tournament was only open to age 17 plus. Despite the fact that the event was run so close to Christmas and many students also unable to attend due to college exam commitments, this was another great day for the IUTF. The whole event ran very smoothly and was highlighted by the warm and friendly atmosphere which is ever present at IUTF events.

Patterns - U-8 Green/Blue Gabbie Naughton 1st, U-15 Red/Black Jessica Naughton 3rd, U-15 Green/Blue John o' Connor 3rd, Ladies Black Belt Ms Julieanne McAuliffe 2nd (All Newcastle West)

Sparring - U-8 All grades Gabbie Naughton 1st (Newcastle West), U-10 Green to Black Jessica Naughton 1st (Newcastle West), Mens Black Belt Lightweight John Spence 1st (Listowel) Ladies Black Belt Lightweight Labhaoise Keane 1st (Listowel), Ladies Black Belt Heavyweight Emer Curran 1st (Cahirciveen) Julieanne McAuliffe 3rd (Newcastle West)

A decision was made to stage next years Leinster Open a few weeks prior the the Irish Open.

Eight countries came together in cork City's Neptune Stadium to compete in what is now regarded as one of the premier tournaments in Europe, the Open Irish Championships. Competitors from Germany, Holland, England, Belgium, Poland, Scotland, Italy and a huge Irish contigent enjoyed a weekend of truly world class competition. Medal winners from the world championships in Korea were on show in almost every ring, in fact the overall best male and female competitor's from Korea, Ms Stacy Weatherer (England) and Mr Gianluca Muscas (Italy) were taking part.

The tournament was run over 2 days, Saturday was reserved for Senior Black Belts and the European Capital of Culture Team Cup. Sunday featured Senior and Junior colour belts and junior black belts. A full and more detailed report can be found on the main IUTF web-site.

Ladies Sparring: -53kg Ms Labhaoise Keane (Listowel) Silver, Ms Jennifer Kelly (Listowel) Bronze, -63kg Ms Claire o' Sullivan (Cahirciveen) Silver, +63kg Ms moira McElligott (Listowel) Silver.

Male Sparring: -64kg Mr John o' Connor (Listowel) Silver, +81kg Mr Padraig o' Connor (Listowel) Gold

Congratulations to the following students of Mr Riordan on their selection for IUTF senior and junior teams for the upcoming Irish Open and Capital of Culture Team Cup.

Senior: Mr Padraig o' Connor (Listowel) Ms Claire o' Sullivan (Cahirciveen) Ms Moira McElligott (Listowel) Ms Maryann o' Brien (Newcastle West) Ms Julieanne McAuliffe (Newcastle West) Mr John o' Connor (Listowel) *

Junior: Labhaoise Keane (Listowel) Emer Curran (Cahirciveen) John Spence (Listowel)

The IUTF had the great pleasure of hosting Master Jose Maidana 7th dan for a weekend of seminars. These were held in Galway, Kerry, Dublin and Cork.

Master Maidana has been coach to the highly sucesseful Argentinian National team for the past 12 years, he has been instrumental in producing many world champions in all disciplines - sparring, pattern, special technique and power breaking. Master Maidana revealed many of the training methods he uses when coaching the Argentinian squad. The seminar began with students practicing some very tricky footwork drills, demonstrated effortlessly by Master Maidana. "We now know why the Argentinian fighters are so quick." Master Maidana moved on to sparring techniques, focusing mainly on counter-attacking. IUTF senior coach Mr Dalton was keen to stress that although we have enjoyed huge sucsess with our attacking style, adding Master Maidana's techniques can make us more complete fighters.

After a short break Master Maidana took the class through patterns from Chon-Ji to Choong-Moo. During this students were encouraged to ask questions, and Master Maidana returned the compliment by also posing questions to students. After a thoroughly enjoyable seminar Master Maidana spoke to all about his own training with his Instructor Master Gallaraga 8th dan, he stressed the importance of regularly attending class with one's instructor no matter what grade you may be. Master Maidana attends class every Friday with his Instructor. A true measure of his humility and willingness to keep learning even though he has reached Master grade.

Mr Padraig o' Connor (far left of photo) of Listowel Taekwon-do club was selected for team Europe to compete against team America at the first ITF Intercontinental Cup. Below is the report of the event featured on the IUTF main website.

ITF Team Europe (coached by Mr. Dalton) were unlucky to come away from Argentina without the First Intercontinental Cup. The event was broadcast on TV throughout Latin America and was held in front of 3000 screaming fans in Buenos Aires . ITF Americas were surprised by a fantastic European start which resulted in Mr.Vincenzo Santagatti of Italy and Mr. Nicholas Panteli of the UK winning the first two opening bouts. Next came Mr. Lee Hollingsworth also of the UK who put on a fantastic performance against his bigger opponent. He was leading with the final five seconds remaining on the electronic scoreboard when suddenly his opponent gained a score which many spectators were unable to comprehend. As a result the win went to the Americas . Next came Mr. Bachir Fakhouri who was drawn into the team on a weeks notice due to a withdrawal of one of the original members. Mr. Fakhouri with only a weeks preparation lost narrowingly and no doubt will be a name to look out for in the future. The final Team Europe member was ITF World Heavyweight World Champion Mr. Padraig O' Connor of the IUTF. Mr. O' Connor received a draw against his Uruguayan opponent leaving the end score as a draw. Mr. O' Connor was thus asked to go out again against Argentinean star hyperweight Mr. Daniel Garcia. The result was again a draw. It was now down to first point. After 50 seconds Mr. Garcia was awarded the point. Afterwards Mr. Dalton played tribute to the European competitors who performed brilliantly under difficult circumstances. "The close relationship within the group was amazing. I think that these young men will all etch out wonderful careers in the ITF in the years to come. We had a special bond which will remain with me for years to come. I would also like to thank Master Galarraga, Master Maidana and all of our Argentinean friends who were so helpful through the week. We look foreword to the return bout in Europe next year and to making your visit here a special one."

The Annual IUTF Referee/Umpire course was held at Mr Mark Philpott's Kanturk TKD Club. This is a prerequisite for students who wish to test at the next dan grading. This course covers the rules used at all IUTF tournaments and aims to ensure that all IUTF black belts are competant when called upon to assist at these tournaments. The course was instructed by IUTF Vice-Chairperson Mr John Riordan and was run over four hours. Items covered during the day were; Patterns, Point Sparring (semi-contact) and continuous sparring (light-contact). Mr Riordan spent time on each section explaining the rules, hand signals, dealing with problems that may arise etc and encouraged students to ask questions. Students were then split into groups to simulate tournament situations and put this theory into practice. All students in attendence will also be required to attend the annual instructor course under IUTF Chairperson, Mr Dalton.

Pictured left to right - Mr Jon Mackey, Mr Mark Philpott, Mrs Patricia Dalton, Mr Don Dalton, Master Bhupinder Sahota, Mr Patrick McCarthy, Mr John Riordan, Mr Shane Fitzgibbon, Mr Michael Flaherty, Ms Bernie Doyle.

UKGTF Chief Instructor and IUTF Technical advisor Master Bhupinder Sahota conduted seminars for IUTF Executive Comittee members and full time instructors. The semnars were run over two full days (8hrs each day) and covered patterns up to 3rd degree black belt. This gave the senior IUTF instructors the opportunity to cover the pattern techniques in much greater detail than would normally be possible at larger seminars. Also in attendance was Mr Patrick McCarthy 6th Dan, who made the trip from London especially to participate.

John Spence (age 15) of Listowel Taekwon-do Club fought his way to a silver medal at these championships held at the Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff South Wales. This was a huge event with over 900 competitors from around the globe, John's division alone contained 80 fighters. John is a relative novice at international level but has shown great potential over the past 2 years winning many provincial titles. As this was such a big division it was going to take a huge effort even to reach the medal stages. John was in great form and won all of his first 4 fights by unanimous decision, his semi-final opponent from Scotland proved to be the toughest test and after a very hard fought 2 rounds a draw was given. Fitness played a major part in the outcome of extra time, John came out on his toes while his opponent appeared flat footed. Realising this, John showed great tactical awareness and changed his style completely by switching legs and catching his opponent with 3 succsessive reverse hook kicks to the head. The result - unanimous decision and a place in the final.

A controversial decision would be an understatement, John totally overwhelmed his Welsh opponent in the final and must have been at least 15 points ahead in the end. Unfortunatly the judges thought differently and gave the hometown decision. Although bitterly dissapointed, John showed true sportsmanship by accepting the decision and going out of his way to congratulate his opponent.

The IUTF were represented by over 50 competitors and brought home 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. Many came close, being eliminated at the quarter final stage and there were many who were on their first international outing and gained great experience to hold them in good stead for the future. The group also enjoyed a great day out at Oakwood theme park on the Monday.

Even though the mood was soured by some dodgy decisions this was one of the best trips ever undertaken by the IUTF, old friendships were renewed, new friendships were forged and there was nothing but positive feeling all the way home.'Congrats to all.'

This years black belt grading was hosted by Connaght Taekwon-do Schools at Westside Community Centre, Galway City. 27 Students took part in the test, congratulations to all.

Students from Mr Riordan's clubs who were successful are as follows; Mr Willie Moloney (Listowel) - promoted to 3rd degree. Mr Mike Mulcahy, Ms Maryann o' Brien, Ms Julieanne McAuliffe (Newcastle West) - Mark McCarthy, Rachel Quirke (Cahirciveen) and Connor Daly from Mr Martin McAleese's Waterville club all promoted to 1st degree.

Pictured below - Mr Jon Mackey, Mr Shane Fitzgibbon, Mrs Patricia Dalton, Mr Parm Rai, Master Choi Jung Hwa,

The USITF hosted what can only be described as one of the most memorable occasions in the history of Taekwon-do. Instructors and students travelled from all over the world to celebrate 50 years of Taekwon-do, with the son of the founder (General choi hong Hi), Master Choi Jung Hwa. The IUTF was represented by executive commitee members Mr Dalton, Mr Riordan, Mrs Dalton and Mr Fitzgibbon. Mr Jon Mackey from IUTF Dublin also travelled with the group.

The weekend began with a grading on Friday morning, congratulations to Chief Instructor of UKGTFand IUTF technical advisor Mr Bhupinder Sahota who was promoted to 7th degree - Master. On Friday afternoon the seminar began with Master Robert Wheatley 8th dan leading the group of over 200 black belts through the entire 24 patterns (an exhausting but great start to the seminar). On Saturday and Sunday Master Choi, assisted by ITF technical commitee member Mr Parm Rai 6th dan, took things more slowly. Each technique was broken down and explained thorouhly, as usual Master Choi took time to answer all questions (and there were many) until completely understood by all. For many, the highlight of the seminar was when Master Choi sat down with everyone and spoke about the "Do" in Taekwon-do. Master Choi has the ability to truly inspire with his words, he spoke of moral culture and the role of the Instructor and Master.

A banquet was held on Saturday evening with Master Choi as guest of honour. Awards were presented to those who had passed their grading the previous day. Speeches were made by Master Trever Nicholls, Mr Parm Rai and seminar organisers Mr Nicholas Maiefyt and Dr John Szostek. Master Robert Wheatley then stood up to make his speech and announced that the promotions commitee of the ITF had decided to award Master Choi the grade of 9th Degree, Grandmaster. "To be in attendence when this was announced was one of the most memorable moments in my Taekwon-do career," Mr John Riordan. Master Choi was last to make his speech and also took the time to walk around and personally speak to everyone.

After wishing a fond farewell to old friends and many new ones, a tired but elated IUTF group travelled back to New York on Sunday evening to try and cram in a weeks worth of sight-seeing in one day.

Mr Sahota, UKGTF Chief Instructor conducted a weekend of seminars at South-West TKD Centre in Tralee and Connaght TKD Schools in Galway. These Seminars were planned specifically to coincide with the run up to the annual dan grading. Mr Sahota will return during the summer to conduct a seminar for the senior Instructors of the IUTF.