The 2018 Junior and Veterans Taekwondo World Championships took place in Minsk, Belarus. The ITF England squad had a good contingent of Veterans and Juniors in selected to compete. I was pleased to be selected as part of the veterans team and extremely excited to be named as one of squads “player-coaches”. The additional responsibility was an unexpected honour.
Jacob Thorley, also a students at Universal TKD in Ludlow, was also selected for the Junior squad, both as an individual and as the Junior Male team Captain.
Individual Patterns
Jacob had a difficult draw in the Junior Males 2nd Dan Patterns against Mun Jong Ryong from the DPRK (North Korea), the current Junior World Champion.
He performed his patterns well and scored close to the competitor from North Korea, but both Jacob and his Coach, Paul Harwood, noticed that Mun Jong Ryong had performed an incorrect kick during his chosen pattern of Juche. The resultant video appeal led to an extended review by the judges with the decision being referred to the Competition Referee for a final decision. The decision was in favour of Mun Jong Ryong and led to an extended umpires meeting that stated that during this competition a reverse side kick foot position would be accepted for Juche.
This was very disappointing for Jacob, but it makes for an interesting competition story.
I made good progress in the Veterans 3rd Dan Patterns. I had the benefit of a “by” in the first round and a second round win against Yevhen Kuchmistyi from the Ukraine. The semi final match against Sato Nozumo did not go in my favour, leaving me with a World Championship bronze medal.
Veteran Males 3rd Dan Patterns
Individual Sparring
We had all learnt from our mistakes during the European Championships earlier in the year and were prepared for new mats and slick surfaces. Wet towels strategically placed on the floor next to the coach allowed everyone the opportunity to wet their feet and maintain good grip.
Jacobs sparring group put him up against Danila Subachus of Estonia and Denys Stepanov of Ukraine. Jacob fought with energy and power but was beaten in both matches.
My group put me up against Zbigniew Stola of Poland and Alfredo Peralta of the USA. The first match against Zbigniew felt good, I was relaxed and moving well leadig to a relatively comfortable win. During the second match against Alfredo I made the mistake of letting him dictate the style of play causing it to become more of a brawl. When Alfredo had to retire that meant I had won my group and was through to the quarter finals.
I was drawn against my old friend Konrad Kowalczyk from Spain. I had lost to Konrad in the -80kg Sparring Final at the English Open earlier in the year and new that it was going to be physically tough fight. It definitely was. By the end we both felt like we had been in a fight, but Konrad got the better of me again. Konrad went on to win the silver after two more gruelling contests.
