Imperial Tae Kwon Do take on Italy

Last weekend, six students from the Imperial College Union Tae Kwon Do club (ICUTKD) travelled to Cagliari in Italy where they competed in the 4th International Mediterranean Open. Open to all levels whether they be black belts or white belts, ICUTKD were joined with a few members from their sister club at Queen Mary’s to compete against other clubs from Britain, Belgium and Italy.

The competition is split into two types: patterns and sparring. Patterns involve the competitor performing a series of movements set in a logical sequence in front of a group of judges who would then score each individual performance. Sparring involves a one-on-one fight against another opponent, with points scored for each hit (though knockout is acceptable for senior grades!).

Sparring categories are determined by weight and grade, however, during the tournament many from ICUTKD were moved up in weight categories to balance out the numbers. Several found themselves competing against opponents much larger than themselves, which made sparring an even tougher challenge! Furthermore, whilst British rules state that sparring is semi-contact for junior levels, rules in Italy declared that sparring is full contact, regardless of level. This came as a shock to some members who only recently started TaeKwonDo and found out about the full-contact rule in the morning of the competition. Despite all this, every member embraced the challenge and fought hard. ICUTKD were able to come away with a few medals, with Charles Heng Sok winning bronze medals for both patterns and sparring, and Maija-Lisa Han winning the gold medal for patterns and the bronze medal in sparring.

It’s not all hard work and training at ICUTKD though! With the tournament over, there was the chance to go sightseeing around Cagliari, a peaceful town on the coast of Sardinia. With their average level in Italian being zero, the team were still able to navigate themselves successfully through every nook and cranny of Cagliari. At the same time, this provided a golden opportunity to take a peek at how the locals led their life.

To truly relish the Italian culture, the team treated themselves to delicious Italian pizza, which was followed by a trip to the local gelateria. In addition to the wonderful food, we also managed to climb up a hill overlooking the town and saw a magnificent night view of Cagliari.

Finally, on the way back to the airport in the rented cars we faced some, let’s say ‘interesting’, Italian driving whilst doing our best at dodging the speed cameras (we were running a bit late!). The challenges we faced were never ending as we struggled to find a petrol station that would accept a foreign credit card.

Without a doubt, the tournament was an incredibly valuable experience and a great deal of fun. We cannot wait for the next tournament not only in Italy but other parts of Europe and even within the UK. We would like to encourage anyone to come along to our club. Both IC and QM Tae Kwon Do clubs are coached by Mr Davion Cheng, a IV Dan black belt.

If you feel like giving it a go, training is held on Mondays 6-9pm in the Union gym and we welcome people of any level.