International Irish Championships & Celtic Cup 2007

Report by Miss Joann Rolison


The tournament held in Cork, Ireland was spread over two action packed days; the first day being the black belt and the second colour belts, each day was filled with remarkable fights and spectacular patterns. This took place over the weekend of the 24th and 25th of November 2007.
16 members of Master Wolf’s Taekwon-Do Academies (MWTA) competed.


The black belt competitors - 24th November 2007 …

Michael Belle
As Michael stepped up to the pattern he showed immense power and control to reach the final and take home the silver. When it came to the individual sparring Michael unluckily didn’t come away with anything, but certainly proved himself in the team sparring.

Jamaine Hemmings
Battling his way through the rounds in the minus 71kg category and reaching the semifinals the decision could of gone either way but unfortunately he just lucked out, but for the fight of for 3rd place it was a clear decision and Jamaine came home with a bronze.

Steve Morgan
Unfortunately Steve didn’t come away with anything in his sparring division, although showed good sportsmanship and skill, and again did better in the team event.

Gavin Williamson
Gavin fought hard and well through his sparring bouts, with determination and skill, in that tiny little ring to receive a bronze medal in the men’s heavy weight sparring.

Joann Rolison
As last up in her pattern division she demonstrated a pattern, which has probably been practiced a hundred times and came away with the gold. In the sparring she fought hard and received a bronze, after having to be pulled out of the fight because of the enormous size difference between her and the opponent (Master Wolf called the bout as he believed the risk was too great, although he felt Joann was skilful enough to win). But from the fights to the semi-final she fought well against her larger opponents to get a bronze.

Tom Smith
Again Tom had the same problem, but he showed determination and guts to get something in the sparring as he also missed out in the pattern because of his division range. But he showed skill and courage to fight his larger and older opponents and come away with a bronze.
Charlotte Jones
Charlotte put power and skill into her new black belt pattern, of which she had just learnt, she just missed out on 3rd place, unluckily came 4th although no medal was received at that place. Battling through her first round in the minus 66kg category, she unfortunately lost against the women who went on to win the division, although she fought hard and didn’t back down.

Last up but definitely not least was the team sparring where MWTA put in an amazing team, six members with great control, skill and kicking ability, this team consisted of Richard Belle, Kevin Guy, Michael Belle, Jamaine Hemmings, Gavin Williamson and Steve Morgan. The team battled through a couple of matches, displaying endless varieties of kicking and punches scoring left, right and centre! They showed great ring craft in the tiny ring they were in, winning and going all the way to the final, which was to be held the following day.


Team final and Colour belt competitors – 25th November 2007 …

The start of the day began with big final between Master Wolf’s team and the Irish team, they battled through thick and thin, but the team never gave up, never stopped to think, then just did and did. The final against the Irish team gave off a tremendously great atmosphere for the competitors and audience.
After going to a draw team captain Richard Belle stepped up for the tiebreaker, and took the win for the MWTA team!
So the MWTA men’s team in 2007 won team titles at the Celtic Cup, American Cup and Pan-American Championships … quite a successful year for the team!

Sharon Weston
Sharon fought hard and well against up to black tags in her division, showing great courage and power to fight to win the bronze and well done for her first major competition.

Duane Black
As for the adults Duane notched up another win taking gold in his patterns division. Duane had a promising start and was out scoring his opponent, when the worst happened. He took a knock to the eye and received a bad cut which meant he had to forfeit the bout and take a trip to the local hospital, but fought very well in the time he had done.

Amit Shah
Unfortunately for Amit he did not place in the patterns. Although he fought well, over coming his nerves and placing third overall. Amit was looking forward to the sparring division and had been training very hard, and it paid off in the end
Gemma Hook
Even though she was pitted against the highest grade in her division, Gemma didn’t back down and did not quit, she done everything she could do, she did miss out but it doesn’t matter as long as she tried your best, didn’t back down and came back with experience and something to gain from your first ever competition abroad.

Frankie Smith
Frankie was determined to win his sparring, he cruised his was through the rounds showing phenomenal power and technique, to reach the final and win the gold.

Adnan Rafique
Showed that his hard work and determination and it was well worth it by winning Gold in his patterns division. Adnan Rafique chose to fight in the adult division where he did very well indeed finishing in third place which is great taking everything into account he is still a junior.

Kieran Hook
This boy performed his patterns tremendously, trying his best each time to put as much power and flow as he could and this resulted him in getting gold. But unfortunately he missed out on a medal in the sparring, being the smallest by far in his division, but fought tremendously well and never backed down.

Josh Morgan
Had fought extremely well through the rounds, fully showing his potential and you could probably say through those rounds that has been some of the best fights he has had. Although fighting well Josh got to the semi finals where he unfortunately picked up an ankle injury. He was unable to compete in the final and so came away with the silver.

Ben Charles
The most people that witnessed Ben’s fight would for the most part describe it as awesome! He had come against some giants in his division and fought so well demonstrating his agility and power to come away with a well-earned bronze.

Nadia Daniel
The Sunday saw the start of the colour belt competition Where Nadia Daniel in her first competition beat back nerves and the other competitors to be declared the winner in the patterns competition. As the day moved on the sparring divisions got underway Nadia Daniel was up first again she made her fellow competitors look average as she cruised through each fight all the way to the final winning her second gold of the day.


Many, many thanks to Master Wolf, for coaching us and training us and also being with us every step of the way! THANKYOU!








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