2006 International Irish Championships

Members of Master Wolfs Taekwon-Do Academies (MWTA) competed in the 2006 International Irish Championships over the weekend of the 17th to the 19th of November. The weekend was action packed and included the prestigious Team Europe vs. Team Americas event, and a seminar conducted by Master Galarraga 8th Dan.


Friday 17th November 2006 ...

Master Wolf and his squad met at the airport, with the competitors looking stylish, dressed in the new MWTA tracksuits - sponsored by Dark'n'Cold Clothing (www.darkncold.com) and Hub Enterprise (www.hubenterprise.co.uk).
The flight went smoothly although three of the team members actually missed the plane! As a result they had to take the scenic tour through Ireland before arriving at the hotel in Cork! Not to mention names ... Mr Belle and Mr Belle!


Saturday 18th November 2006 ...

Everyone arrived bright and early at the Neptune Stadium for the black belt section of the tournament. The day began well with two medals in the senior male pattern section - Chris Quenby won the gold and Jamaine Hemmings the bronze.

Another gold went to the MWTA squad, with Lucy Wolf winning the ladies under 52Kg sparring division.

In the under 71Kg sparring, was Andy Des'a, Jamaine Hemmings and Chris Quenby. This was one of the largest divisions of the black belt tournament and there looked to be a good array of fighters from England, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Argentina.
All three MWTA competitors got of to a good start but eventually went out against other very experienced fighters, with very close decisions. After a very close, technical fight Chris lost against a fellow English competitor, Dave Pixton (PUMA), who went on to win the division.

The under 63Kg sparring division was another large group including MWTA students Steve Morgan and Michael Belle. Michael fought very strongly through many rounds, outclassing his opponents and going on to win the gold.

Richard Belle had very arduous fights in the over 80Kg sparring and he fought his way through tough rounds. The final against the Irish fighter Sean Kean was another close match, but Richard just missed out and picked up the silver.


At the end of the first day of the competition was a special workshop conducted by Master Galarraga, 8th Dan, of Argentina. Master Galarraga is head of the ITF Tournament and Umpire Committee, and the President of the Taekwon-Do Association of Argentina.
The seminar was very well attended and despite the fact that many of the people taking part had been competing and working all day, everyone was still very eager to do a bit more training! In the seminar Master Galarraga covered various sparring drills, which were explained, demonstrated and then practiced. This was a very informative and enjoyable session.


Sunday 19th November 2006 ...

It was another very early start this time for the very exciting Europe vs. Americas team event.
In team Europe were two MWTA students Richard Belle and Chris Quenby who were both victors in their respective bouts. Chris had an extremely quick round, as his opponent could not continue after a KO within 11 seconds!
This event indeed did not disappoint, and there were some amazing displays of skill from extremely talented Taekwon-Do practitioners from both sides of the Atlantic! Team Europe were the eventual winners.

It was then time for the colour belt section of the tournament and as usual the divisions were immense! It was all hands on deck, with all of the black belts from various countries and associations pitching in to help the day run efficiently!

In the colour belt divisions there were eleven MWTA members – Charlotte Jones, Victoria Clark, Ritchie Gentles, Darren Fry, Leonardo Bocca, Dean Wainwright, Tom Smith, Joann Rolison, Frankie Smith, Andrew Chapman and Rachel Wainwright - between them they amassed a tally of 4 gold’s, 2 silver’s and 1 bronze.

Charlotte Jones and Victoria Clark each won a silver in their respective pattern categories - Charlotte in the age 18 and over green belt to black tag division, and Victoria in the under 17 green belt to black tag division.

In the age 18 and over green belt to black tag sparring, over 75Kg division was Ritchie Gentles. Ritchie battled through several rounds, learning and improving even more with each bout and finished off with a bronze medal.

Darren Fry fought very well and came fourth in his division, just missing out on a medal.

The junior MWTA colour belts showed great promise for the future!
Tom Smith did very well and got through to the quarterfinals in his sparring division, in which there were 60 competitors!
Toms younger brother Frankie won the gold in the 8 and under all grades pattern section, and continued on to win the gold in his point scoring sparring section. At the tender age of eight Frankie showed an amazing variety of techniques, wowing the crowd when he scored with his spiral kicks!
Andrew Chapman did well, winning the silver in the 14 and under point system section, while Rachel Wainwright just missed out on a medal in a close match fighting off for third place.
Last but not least was Joann Rolison, who won gold in both the pattern and sparring. The sparring was a point-scoring format, and Joann managed to out point much bigger opponents, some literally twice her size, using cunning, speed and great skill!


In closing, Master Wolf and his Instructors and students, would like to extend their thanks to Mr and Mrs Dalton, and the Irish United Taekwon-Do Federation (IUTF) for organizing another high-quality tournament and an enjoyable weekend.


MWTA Results table:

Lucy Wolf
Gold - Sparring (Senior Female -52kg)

Richard Belle
Gold - Team Europe
Silver - Sparring (Senior Male +80kg)

Michael Belle
Gold - Sparring (Senior Male -63kg)

Jamaine Hemmings
Bronze - Pattern (Senior Male)

Chris Quenby
Gold - Team Europe
Gold - Pattern (Senior Male)


Charlotte Jones
Silver - Pattern (Female, age 18+ Green Belt to Black Tag)

Ritchie Gentles
Bronze - Sparring (Male, age +18 Green Belt to Black Tag, +75Kg)

Victoria Clark
Silver - Pattern (Female, age -17 Green Belt to Black Tag)

Joann Rolison
Gold - Pattern (Age 12 and under Red Belt to Black Stripe)
Gold - Sparring (Age 12 and under point system)

Frankie Smith
Gold - Pattern (Age 8 and under Green Belt to Red Tag)
Gold - Sparring (Age 8 and under point system)

Andrew Chapman
Silver - Sparring (Age 14 and under point system)


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