Success At World Championships - Full Report

By Miss Joann Rolison, 1st Degree (aged 13-years)

From the 1st to the 5th of August 2007, the 9th Junior and 14th Senior ITF World Championships were held at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.
The tournament was an action packed week, full of remarkable patterns, sparring bouts and destruction events, which would conclude on the Sunday when all of the finals were due to take place.
World-class competitors from countries all over the globe traveled to England to take part in the most prestigious event in the Taekwon-Do calendar. Such countries as Argentina, Brazil, USA, Canada, Coratia, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and many more.

Overall England did very well winning 9 individual gold medals.
As part of the England squad, Master Wolf's Taekwon-Do Academies (MWTA) did extremely well and came away with another four World Champions!

Nine MWTA students qualified as part of the England squad - namely Lucy Wolf, Nicholas Gardner, Richard Belle, Jamaine Hemmings, Corey Cain, Adam Gardner, Jasmine Duggan, Joann Rolison and Reuben Hemmings. All members prepared well for the competition with regular squad sessions and various tournaments leading up to the event.


Tuesday, the 31st July saw the weigh in take place, giving all competitors their first glimpse of who may be in their divisions! With nerves beginning to kick in, and after saying hello to some old friends, everyone was back to their hotels for a relaxing evening, with the junior competition due to start the next day.


On Wednesday 1st of August the tournament began, starting off with the opening ceremony - this was a spectacular lazar show to music, while people from all over the world sat down in the enormous arena gazing upon it.

Day one of the tournament finally began. First up from Master Wolf�s Academies was 13-year old Joann Rolison, in her first ever World Championships, competing in the junior female patterns, 1st degree. Out of thirty-three competitors she was able to reach the semi-finials beating competitors from Argentina and America on the way through! Joann�s semi-final was very close with a draw situation after the designated and optional patterns. The girls performed Yul-Gok as the chosen pattern in this tiebreaker! Unfortunately Joann did not get the decision and come away with a bronze. Joann�s opponent, Florencia Marttellete from Argentina went on to win the gold in her final.

Straight after that was the junior female micro sparing division, two MWTA members, Jasmine Duggan and Joann Rolison, were in this category. Unfortunately these two fighters were drawn against one another in the first round. Although the girls are close friends and training partners they held nothing back! Kick for kick they battled against each other. Being a very close match someone had to win and Jasmine came out successful, but they both still came off the mat together not killing each other! Jasmine then won her second match and won her way to the final.

Next up was Adam Gardner in the junior under 63kg sparring event. He fought through the rounds with determination and guts. But the day came to a close and the division had to be prolonged to the beginning of the next day, the 2nd of August. On this, the second day of the tournament, after many matches and bruises, Adam beat his opponent from Ireland, John Spence, and at long last earned his way to the final.

Next up was Reuben Hemmings, in the junior under 70kg sparring. Unfortunately, Reuben was also drawn to fight another companion from the England squad - Sam Vernazza - although they fought as though they hardly knew each other as they both wanted to win. Kicks and punches were scoring all over. Reuben, only losing by a small number of points, and the opponent won. He may have of got the unfortunate decision but he gained a whole lot of experience from his first ever World Championships. And has a lot ahead of him for years to come.

Afterwards the female senior patterns began. Entering the 5th degree pattern was Lucy Wolf competing against Romina Galarraga from Argentina in the first round. They both demonstrated great control, great skill and great power, but Lucy�s patterns came out on top and she took a place in the final.

Already two-time junior World Champion; this was Nicholas Gardner�s first major tournament as a senior, marking the start of what promises to be an amazing career! He first took part in the senior male 3rd degree patterns. After winning the 1st round comfortably; then came the next round. He and his opponent were very comparable, you could hardly separate them, power and skills were very similar, but this challenger just took it from him.

Sparring was next for Lucy Wolf in the senior female under 52kg division, and she was determined to win as always. Battling through the beginning rounds against extremely tough competitors from Argentina, making her way up to the semi-finals. Then she saw her opponent, a very close friend from Italy, Silvia Farigu, but nothing was going to distract Lucy, so the war went on! Scoring points from top to bottom, in the lead for almost all the fight, apart from the last four seconds, when her rival forced her back and apparently scored enough points for the scoreboard to switch over. At the end of the fight she took away the bronze. However she can come away with something to work on and aim higher for the next time.


A promising day 3 began as the rest of our fighters were ready and pumped up to win.
First up from MWTA was Jamaine Hemmings in the under 71kg senior male sparring. Jamaine fought incredibly well through his first couple of fights against Leon Brydone (Ireland) and Christian Oriolani (Spain). He seemed to get better and better throughout each match. But the next fight was extremely close against Mason McCauley from the USA; with both competitors holding nothing back. It was a great fight, and extremely close. In the last few seconds his opponent was just in front, and Jamaine just missed out, but came away with plenty of knowledge for the next World Championships.

Next was the under 80 kg senior male sparring division, in which were two Master Wolf�s Academy students - Nicholas Gardner and Corey Cain. Luckily the two competitors were at opposite ends of the draw, separating the two of our members, the hope being that they would meet in the final. Regrettably things didn�t go to as well as planed. They both got through a couple of rounds using and exhibition of techniques to wow the audience. But then the fight of Nicholas and his opponent came. Nick had all the judges on his side and was in the lead using a vast array of kicks and punches for almost all the fight until in the last few seconds he stepped out of the ring, which took a point away just at the last second and so his opponent had won. You win some you loose some, but it�s the experience that counts.
Corey Cain was still in the competition and each round; using his ring craft he got closer and closer into the final. Battling his way through the rounds, tackling the opponents one by one and beating many experienced fighters. Clearly capturing the eyes of the judges by demonstrating his cunning and skill as he had at long last earned his way to the final.

Next up was Richard Belle fighting in the over 80 kg senior male division. Cruising his way through the rounds using a vast range of hand and foot techniques on his opponents and shocking them with his phenomenal, fast and furious techniques landing left, right and centre. Using his astounding skill, Richard was the fifth Master Wolf�s Academy student to reach the finals.


On Saturday the 4th of August was an open Kup tournament. This gave all of the finalist�s time to rest and relax in preparation for tough day to follow.


Sunday the 5th of August, final day of the tournament! All of the finals were done on the centre ring, which was an elevated stage, and all eyes were on the two people in the middle of the arena! And then, not to mention that at the start of every round the two competitors had to walk up to the mat, via a runway either side, whilst music was playing and lazar lights flashing � no pressure!

So first up was Lucy Wolf in the final of the senior female 5th degree patterns, performing the 72-move pattern Sosan, against Catherine Divine from Scotland. Through every movement she demonstrated immense power and great technique all the way through. And clearly coming away with the gold, in the end she got what she deserved after probably doing a hundred of this pattern in practice!
Lucy also won the World title in the 2004 Championships in Korea in the 4th degree pattern section � so she is now a two time World Champion!

Next up from MWTA was Jasmine Duggan final, in the under 42kg junior female division, against Amanda Herban from the USA. She fought with heart and courage against her larger opponent. With great determination Jasmine tried to win this, but came away with the silver and a bundle of experience in her second World Championships - with many more competitions to come at only 14-years old.

Adam Gardner was next up in the under 63 kg junior male sparring final. Adam had a tough fight and fought using his head and his heart, using all the experience he had earned. He definitely earned the gold! Having won a previous World title in the under 58Kg sparring category in 2006 in Australia; at the age of 17, Adam is now a two time World Champion, winning his titles in two different divisions!

Later was the under 80 kg senior male sparing, in which was Corey Cain.
Against a much taller opponent � William Van Dam from the Netherlands � Corey used his agility and exceptional ring craft it helped him get into his opponent. He scored numerous points and then stayed away when he needed to. He pumped out technique after technique to win the fight and take home the gold.

The last fight of the tournament was Richard Belle against the Netherlands Sergey Alekhin, in the over 80 kg male senior sparring final. He used outstanding techniques, and fought non-stop, determined to get gold. In this fight he used his head to make his hands and feet to score points all over the opponent. In the end Richards points was more than his rival and won the gold.


Altogether four Master Wolf�s Academy students achieved gold medals and the World title in their respective divisions. Of the nine MWTA competitors, six achieved medals � 4 gold�s, 1 silver and 2 bronzes.

We would like to thank Master Wolf for putting us through all that grueling training, because it was all worth it!!!


Check back soon for photographs and video footage from the event.


MWTA Medal Tally:

Lucy Wolf
Gold � senior female 5th degree pattern
Bronze � senior female under 52kg sparring

Richard Belle
Gold � senior male over 80kg sparring

Corey Cain
Gold � senior male under 80kg sparring

Adam Gardner
Gold � Junior male under 63kg sparring

Jasmine Duggan
Silver � junior female under 42kg sparring

Joann Rolison
Bronze � junior female 1st degree pattern



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