23rd/24th October 2004 |
AIMAA World Championships |
AIMAA World Championships |
ago and won a Gold and Silver medal, but this time he was there for his students
to see if they could do similar. And what a result they got: 14 of the Rayners Lane students competed, plus Mr Anslow and between them they amassed an amazing 26 medals, 8 of which were gold's! Making Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy home of 7 World Champions and numerous World silver and bronze medallists. Unlike many World Championships, this event is open to everyone; of any association and any style… you only have to attend! Though it was thought by most that the first days events was overly ambitious (last year a similar amount of events were over the first 2 days), the competition started. Unfortunately, the super smooth running of the 2000 World Championships were not to take effect this time, as the venue had changed and the seating arrangements, changing areas, warm-up areas plus the 10 arenas themselves all seemed a little disjointed. This all took its toll on the event at the start, so we had no ceremony like last time the event started. Despite the chaotic start the event started to flow with the hyung/patterns section first, starting with the youngsters. Abhijay Sood, our youngest member competing was up straight away and despite a good performance of Dan-Gun tul, didn't managed to grab a medal. The children's divisions were massive however. The second of the Academies students to compete was Priya Shah. Priya outdone herself with a fine patterns performance to take the first medal for the Academy in the Girls patterns for her grade, Priya scooped a bronze. The next medal came from Gillian Nightingale, at only her second ever competition and only a 9th kup, she claimed the silver in the ladies adult junior grade patterns division. Following Gill's victory close by was student Justin Goh, whom in a large and highly contested Red/Brown belt patterns division, gave a fine performance of Hwa-Rang to claim another silver medal for the Academy. Whilst this was going on, on the other side of the arena, two of the academies female competitors had made it all the way through to the finals as well, in the ladies blue/purple belt patterns, only to get equal scores. With a gold and silver medal at stake, both Lyndsey Sainsbury and Sonal Lakhman had to perform a pattern one grade down, in order to try and separate them, but again they received equal scores. In a final attempt to separate them, they were made to perform Joong-Gun tul, side by side, with the judges ordered to pick one or the other instead of scoring them. Sonal just managed to pip Lyndsey and claimed the gold, in what was an intriguing and dramatic final. Sushi Punj and Dev Patel both competed in the Junior Red/Brown belt patterns and despite some good performances (as you can see from the pictures), were unlucky to place in what was probably the biggest division of the event. Meanwhile, Vijay Sood came 4th in his division for patterns, just missing out on a medal. There were some fine performances by all competitors in the Black belt patterns divisions but as soon as this was over, it was onto the Points Sparring sections. This was a difficult section for all, as any technique only scored a single point, making high kicks and jumping techniques pretty much redundant. Again our youngster Abhijay was up first on ring 2 against some fearsome little competitors. He took some pretty hard blows and sadly didn't place, but gave a fine account of himself none-the-less. Whilst this was going on other Academy students were called up for points sparring. Again Gillian Nightingale gave a great performance, this time taking it to the gold medal spot. Kate Barry took silver in her points sparring division, whilst Vijay Sood also gained silver in the Veterans division. Also in Points Sparring, Sonal Lakhman fought her way to a bronze medal, as did Hershel Shah, who unfortunately met fellow Academy student Sharad Nakarja on his way and beat him! Though Sharad had already won a few fights himself. Dev Patel and Sushil Punj fought some good fights in the junior brown/red and black belt division, again, meeting just before the semi-finals with Dev going on to face a good black belt and losing a very close and tough fight unfortunately by a couple of points in extra time and having to settle for bronze. Colin Avis also fought bravely to gain a bronze himself in a very technically fought division. Though this day was to incorporate Continuous Sparring and destruction, the time had escaped everyone, so it was all put back to day 2. Day 2 kicked off straight away with the Continuous sparring divisions, some hard fought bouts ensued. Though this was billed as a semi contact event, nearly all divisions were hard to full contact! Never-the-less, the Academies students fought superbly. Lyndsey Sainsbury picked up a gold in this division after some tough bouts, with fellow female student Kate Barry collecting a bronze for her performance. Colin Avis had many great fights to get him through to the finals in the adult blue belts, which despite only getting the silver, he fought so hard his fellow finalist actually threw up! Across the arena, Parvez Sultan was fighting in the men's red/brown belt mixed light heavy and heavy weight division. Parvez took on all comers with relish, fighting kick boxers and fellow Taekwon-do men all the way to the finals to claim the gold. Meanwhile Mr Anslow fought in the black belt welter weight divisions, and despite some weird round keeping that gave byes each round (except to Mr Anslow unfortunately), got a bronze, even though he won as many fights and fought more than the silver medallist! It must be said however, that out of all the black belt divisions, which were very highly contested, with some tough competitors, the welter weight division saw the most technical fighting, while other divisions were straight on brawls! This concluded the continuous sparring of the event and the destruction sections started. A few of the Academies students enter these sections, with Justin Goh making his mark by performing a jump reverse turning kick over fellow student Colin Avis's head to break a thick wood board in the Technical Destruction division. The judges were impressed that he did it with Colin facing him than actually turned around, which makes the technique slightly harder! Justin also won a Bronze in the Power destruction. Instructor Mr Anslow was unfortunate to be up first again in the 3rd dan Power destruction division. In these types of divisions you have no second chance to equal a fellow competitor's break, so he went up and easily broke 3 boards with a standing back kick (wishing after he had tried 4). A few other competitors also broke 3 boards with stepping kicks and one with a great knife hand. Unfortunately, one of the heavier competitors manages a stepping kick through four boards, leaving Mr Anslow to contest silver and bronze from about 3 other competitors. It was a good section, 2 of the 3 remaining managed 3 boards again, but on the 3rd time on opposite legs, unfortunately the other competitors did better, leaving Mr Anslow with the bronze. The event concluded with the team divisions, Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy had only teams in the Colour Belt Adults Male and female sparring sections. The Girls did well and won the gold, whilst the boys faced off AIMAA Scotland and after some tough bouts had to settle for Silvers. For Rayners Lane students, the days events concluded with Master Phillip Ameris arranging for the Rayners Lane Angels (the ladies) having a team fight with the gracious AIMAA Scotland men's team, much to the joy of those watching. Despite some issues with certain things, over heavy contact, organisation etc., all competitors, from all schools should be very proud of their results in what was a very tough World Championships. The final tally of the medals for Rayners Lane Students was 26 medals, which included 8 gold's, 9 silvers and 8 Bronzes. This means Gillian Nightingale, Parvez Sultan, Justin Goh and Kate Barry are officially World Champions and Lyndsey Sainsbury and Sonal Lakhman Double World Champions . With Vijay Sood, Colin Avis, Priya Shah, Hershal Shah, Dev Patel and Mr Anslow either Silver or Bronze world medallists. Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy would like to thank Janet and Krishan Singhal, Indra Punj, Anita Patel, Sandeep and Savinay Sood and Fintan Murphy for their support and help during what was a great weekend. Mr Anslow would also like to relay his thanks to Miss Quintella Walsh AIMAA Secretary for Ireland for her help before and during the event. After the event, Mr Anslow spoke of how proud he was of his student's achievements, equal or better than that of many of the National Squads at the event. When asked what he will remember most about the event, he spoke of his students achievements, meeting fellow International Alliance of Martial Art School instructors and students, and Miss Quintella Walsh stepping forward whilst calling out his sparring divisions names to personally say 'nice to meet you' - which he really appreciated and joked it made him feel like a superstar for 10 seconds! |
15 Competitors, 26 Medals - 8 Golds |
REPORT |
Students from Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy and their instructor, Stuart Anslow, attended the AIMAA 2nd World Open Martial Arts Championships, held in Dublin, Ireland over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of October. Mr Anslow attended the previous World Championships four years |