HomeSportTaekwondo team bring back eight gold medals

Taekwondo team bring back eight gold medals

ASP taekwondo gold
Four of the eight gold medallists from the ASP Taekwondo team who competed at the ATQ State Open. Those absent: Thenuri Weerasinghe, Dayzi Jones, Eli Reed.

ASP Taekwondo Bundaberg have had a successful trip to the recent ATQ State Open in Brisbane, bringing back eight gold medals from their 17 competitors.

The competition, which sees participants attend from across Queensland, was the first event since Covid for the Queensland Taekwondo community.

Head instructor at ASP Taekwondo Mitchell Archer said he was thrilled to bring eight gold medals back and was a fantastic recognition of the hard work of
the team.

“The competition itself was the first one of the year and really the first proper competition post Covid,” Mitchell said.

“We had a general number of gold medals that we wanted to hit of the 16 fights which was four or five gold medals and they surpassed the expectation.

“All the hours of the training did pay off as well as the extra work from the juniors.”

Mitchell said the competition provided the opportunity for their fighters to see just how their training compared to others across the state.

“For a lot of our competitors, it was a test of how fit they stayed in the off season, with the competition attracting over 200 competitors,” he said.

“Since the last competition of last year, we have continued to train so from about October right up to end of February they kept training hard, and we upped our training from two or three sessions a week.

“All of these sessions went for two hours each, and those that came back with gold were very dedicated in attending all the sessions.”

Mitchell said while competing individually, Taekwondo was ultimately a team sport.

He said he was proud of the effort of each and every competitor at the recent competition.

“I was very proud of the team, it is not always about the results, but the gold medals are always an added bonus,” he said.

“It was great to see our competitors follow their teammates to every mat and cheered them on as Taekwondo is ultimately a team sport.”

ASP taekwondo gold
Members of the ASP Taekwondo team who received medals at the recent ATQ State Championships.

The club, which has been operating for more than 20 years, saw two members compete in poomsae for the first time for the club.

Poomsae is a defined pattern of defence and attack motions used in Taekwondo.

“Dayzi and Rubi who were ASP’s first ever poomsae competitors and they overcame their nerves and got bronze medals which they were ecstatic about,” he said.

“It is definitely something we want to compete in in the future.”

The gold medal recipients from ASP Taekwondo Bundaberg were:

  • Olivia Ward – Red Belt, 15-17 yrs, 55-59kgs
  • Thenuri Weerasinghe – Red Belt, 12-14 yrs, 33-37kgs
  • Dayzi Jones – Blue Belt, 12-14 yrs, 41-44kgs
  • Eli Reed – Blue Belt, 12-14 yrs, 41-44kgs
  • Rubi Little (Won 2 golds in 2 divisions: first is her own, second she moved up) – Blue Belt, 10-11 yrs, 37-41kgs / Red Belt, 12-14 yrs, 41-44kgs
  • Bodhi Harris – Blue Belt, 8-9 yrs, 25-28kgs
  • Kai Little – Yellow Belt, 8-9 yrs, 31-34kgs

The silver medal recipients were:

  • Thanushi Weerasinghe (Red Belt, 15-17 yrs, 49-52kg)
  • Zac Ward (Red Belt, 12-14kg, 37-41kg)
  • Grant Puckering (Blue Belt, 33+ yrs, 80-87kg)
  • Kinshuk Gupta (Blue Belt, 10-11 yrs, 46-50kg)
  • Harrison Caruana (Blue Belt, 8-9 yrs, 22-25kg)
  • Corey Puckering (Yellow Belt, 10-11 yrs, 22-25kg)
  • Damian Manser (Yellow Belt, 18+ yrs, 63-68kg)
  • Samantha Hooper (Yellow Belt, 33+ yrs, 63-68kg)
  • Eli Little (Yellow Belt, 6-7 yrs, 19-22kg)

ASP Taekwondo is Bundaberg’s only Olympic style, WT-approved Taekwondo club, offering classes for all skill levels and ages.

The Bundaberg club first opened in a room at the bus depot, the first night seeing 16 students sign on as members.

The club quickly became known for the high level of realistic skills being taught.

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