Cornish Open
Championships 2004
The Global Taekwondo International Cornish Open Championships was once
again hosted by Mr Billy Thomson from the Truro GTI School. The
tournament itself was situated at the excellent venue of the Dragon
Leisure Centre in Bodmin. In the 10 years that the Cornish Open has
been running it has seen a steady growth of entrants & this year was
the most successful so far. The competition was strongly supported by
the host association, the GTI, & also by members from Evolution TKD,
Torbay UKTA, Turners TKD & other ITF groups.
The competition started promptly with some fine demonstrations of
patterns throughout the junior & adult divisions & culminating in a
number of performances from the finalists that showed some real
brilliance & flair. The competition smoothly progressed through to the
sparring divisions, with point-stop for the yellow/green categories &
continuous for the rest. All the juniors who won their relevant
categories in the patterns went on to win their respective category in
the sparring. Some notable bouts were seen in the coloured belt
divisions.
In the girls red/blue lightweights H Carthew (GTI Truro) proved to be
a plucky little fighter & although her opponents were much larger than
she was, she did not let this phase her & she kept up a consistent
work-rate & used some good footwork & speed to evade her opponents
attacks. Using turning kicks, jabs & reverse punches, Carthew kept up
a steady attack, but some of her techniques fell short of their
targets & this resulted in a number of draws for this spirited
fighter. But through determination, Carthew fought her way through &
won her division, amid cheers from her fans. In the same category, but
in the heavyweights, there was more tough fighting. A real battle
ensued between J Williams (GTI Helston) & R Brumwell (GTI Truro) in
the semi-finals; both fighters earned them-selves a yellow card each
for going in too hard & the bout ended in a draw. Williams gained the
edge in the time extension & progressed to the final against fellow
Helston club-mate, K Thomson. Thomson pressed forwards making good use
of turning kicks, hand combinations & a superb side kick that she
landed onto her opponents head. Williams was no pushover & retaliated
with a series of side kicks & spinning backfists with relentless
pressure, resulting in the claiming of the title.
T McLeod (GTI Ledbury) showed some real talent in the yellow belt boys
middleweights. Throwing some superior reverse turning kicks which were
clean, accurate & very well controlled, he scored numerous points by
striking high section time & again to win his division. Progressing
through the grades, a good spar was witnessed in the finals of the
lightweight blue/red boys. K Johnson (GTI Helston) was jabbing in with
lead leg side kicks & some jumping side kicks & he was executing these
very fast. The final started off rather scrappy with C Stephen (GTI
Welshpool) charging in with his hands & using spinning backfists, but
the bout soon tidied up. Johnson took control of the fight using some
nice combinations & his lead was increased when Stephen lost points
for some low kicking, leaving Johnson to be awarded the decision.
The heavyweight red belt boys final between S Williams (GTI Helston) &
T Huffadine (GTI Wells) was a match of two very capable fighters.
Williams had an advantage of having long limbs & he put these to good
use with some quick side & hook kicks reaching their mark. A lovely
jump spinning axe kick from Williams earned him some valuable points.
Huffadine kept up an excellent work-rate & countered Williams’s
attacks with some well-placed side kicks & hand combinations. A very
quick jumping hook kick from Huffadine was thrown, but some lightening
fast reactions from Williams saw him quickly step in & spoil it. After
this thrilling bout, Williams was declared the winner.
In the men’s blue belt middleweights final D Rogers (GTI Helston)
clinched a victory over P Griffin (GTI Wells). Griffin was picked off
by Rogers long legs, his high chamber coming up & over Griffin’s leg
to jab in his kicks. Griffin replied by driving forward, but made the
mistake of lowering his guard which Rogers took immediate advantage
of, by scoring with a couple of easy shots. The fighters both
demonstrating a very well controlled & courteous bout. The red belt
middleweights was another bout of distinction. A Holdsworth
(Evolution) was “show-boating” & sparring with his hands held down by
his side, as if to draw his opponent in, but his quick kicks were able
to help him carry it off. His opponent, A Bohle (Torbay ITF), caught
him out with a fast reverse turning kick to the head & some good hand
counters. Holdsworth was issued a yellow card after striking after the
referee’s command to break, but he came back scoring with enough body
shots to secure a win.
The black belt patterns divisions were mixed, resulting in some large
divisions & contained some very competent competitors. A wide variety
of patterns were on display from Choong Moo through to advanced
patterns such as Yon Gae & Moon Moo. F Miller
(Evolution) took the gold, with a fine performance of a powerful
pattern containing some very nice kicking techniques. The silver &
bronze positions were won by the ladies with some very technical
performances by, respectively, S Nash (GTI Swindon) & T Cox (GTI
Tewesbury). The juniors division was won by L Fendt (GTI Gloucester)
who showed the boys a thing or two about how to perform a pattern.
With a strong & precise performance she beat T Lee (Evolution), who
came a close second, leaving D Langley (GTI Glos) to come third after
a playoff for the bronze.
Some great sparring was present in the black belt divisions. The boys
heavyweights were won by J Chow (GTI Cheltenham) whose standard has
improved by leaps & bounds in the last few months. Chow fought very
well, using some very accurate axe kicks followed by a blitz. He also
successfully threw some good 360° jumping kicks &
it was his effective, accurate kicking that secured his gold. The
girls black belt division saw L Fendt (GTI Glos) secure her 2nd
gold of the day against L Mitty (GTI Andover). Mitty threw a number of
reverse turning kicks but Fendt, using some fast footwork to evade
these attacks. A quick exchange of techniques was finished by Fendt
executing a beautiful jumping side kick to the mid-section of her
opponent. Mitty pressed her attack & fired in some good hand
combinations, but could not claw back the lead that Fendt had
acquired.
The ladies black belt final between F Lane (GTI
Glos) & S Nash (GTI Swindon) was a very technical bout from both
fighters. Nash used some good footwork but Lane, using her weight
advantage, managed to catch her with a couple of good shots that put
her opponent onto the floor & Nash was penalized for the loss of
balance. These vital points were to cost Nash the fight. Lane
continued to used her good level of flexibility to pick her legs up
with ease to score some head kicks & Nash retaliated with some good
hook kicks. This was a very good natured bout with some skillful
fighting from both fighters.
The middleweight men’s final between T Chow (GTI
Chelt) & F Miller (Evoution) was a classic. Miller showed great
control & technique, using some nice aerial kicks & spin kicks, thrown
with utter precision & well used as counter-attacks. Chow replied to
these with some 360° spinning crescent kicks & axe kicks to keep his
opponent at bay. Miller dictated the pace of the fight & stepped up
the pace when necessary. Skipping in with a lead side kick, Miller
covered distance very effectively & using skip-changes to set up his
attacks, he built up his points. However, in reply, Chow up his
work-rate & used his long legs to reach in to steal back some points &
as soon as Miller got in close, Chow used his noticeably improved
in-fighting skills to add more points to his score, this & his desire
to win, earned Chow a further 1st place trophy for his
mantle-piece.
For further
information on the GTI & its Open tournaments, which are held
throughout the year, please contact the Chairman, Mr Clive Harrison on
01531 640187 or by e-mail at chairman@gti-taekwondo.com . More
information can be found at the official website at
www.gti-taekwondo.com
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