IC Taekwondo produce strong showing

Last weekend saw Ethos sports centre nearly full to capacity as over one hundred and sixty competitors descended on Imperial College to take part in the Imperial College Open.

Now in its second year, the Imperial College Open has become a major event in the competitive year for many university clubs, with students from as far as Newcastle and Sheffield flocking to South Kensington to participate. Over 130 fights, across 35 different weight and class categories took place throughout the day, posing a significant challenge for the largely student-run competition.

Despite these hurdles, Imperial College Tae Kwon Do club (ICUTKD) dominated proceedings, taking home a staggering 21 medals (9 bronze, 6 silver and 6 gold) from a pool of 25 competitors, across all weight and skill categories. This was the highest number of medals of any university club, and enough to ensure the newly inaugurated ‘Imperial Award’ remains firmly in the hands of Imperial College in its first year.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who volunteered on the day, helping to ensure the smooth running and ultimate success of the Imperial College Open. Thank you to the British Student Tae Kwon Do Federation (BSTF), the Red Cross, Sport Imperial and the Ethos staff, who were all instrumental in the organisation of the event. We would also like to thank our instructor, Master Reza Saberi and our coaches for their guidance and support over the last few months.

With the Imperial College Open 2013 being a huge success and a milestone in terms of our sporting achievement, we realise that there is still much work to be done this year. We hope that with this experience under out Tae Kwon Do belts, we can go forward to achieve bigger and better things at the Student Nationals and the Imperial College Open 2014. Watch this space!