Gold Coast Open - New Zealand Athletes Striving for Success
Massive congratulations to everyone that made the journey across the ditch to compete in the Gold Coast Open.
Below is a short brief from the one and only Hayley Storey.
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Hayley Storey TNZ HP Director traveled to the Australia this past weekend to watch/Support and Coach some NZ Clubs, with cadets, junior and Senior athletes competing in the annual Gold Coast Open in both Poomsae and Kyorugi.
This was a fantastic challenge for all the athletes, stepping up into their highly competitive divisions.
Six Clubs from around NZ attended and collecting a total of 23 Golds, 21 Silver and 12 Bronze - what a huge achievement.
Koryo Taekwondo Hawke’s Bay Club from Hastings took out over all 3rd place in the medal tally out of the 86 clubs that attended. This is a huge achievement from Master Camille's Club, with athletes competiting in Poomsae, Kyorugi and Para, they brought home 15 Gold, 15 silvers and 9 Bronze.
If you have been following the story of some of Koryo Taekwondo’s members you will be interested to note that they also had a film crew following them all weekend.
Kennedys Freestyle Martial Arts (FMA) Club from Christchurch came in at 16th Place bringing home 6 Golds, 3 silvers and 1 Bronze with 3 of the players receiving trophies.
Some special mentions: Sienna Flynn who competed in Juniors (Gold) , Seniors (Silver) and the Veteran (Gold) (match play) with tough fights was presented with the Fighting Spirt Award.
Jemesa Landers received the indomitable spirit award and also brought home Gold.
Ella Bromley received the perseverance award and Gold (this was Ella's first competition).
Sejong Auckland, Cardinals Taekwondo Club (Christchurch), New Plymouth TKD and Capital City (Wellington) also attended, with most of the clubs taking home medals.
We are very proud of everyone who attended from NZ, especially as it was the first international competition some of the athletes had participated in. The standard set by the Australians was very high and provided some great mat experience for everyone.
If you can go to the Gold Coast Open do so - the Lakerdis Family are experts at running a great competition and are very welcoming. These are great tournaments to get a taste of what it is about.
The next competition also run by the Lakerdis family is the Caboolture Open on the 16th of June held in Morayfield, approx. 1 hour from Brisbane.
I will be attending if you require any information on this competition, please email me on kyorugimanager@newzealandtaekwondo.co.nz
We have some great athletes, including impressive up-and-coming talent, and I look forward to watching their journey.
Hayley Storey
HP Director for TNZ
