NZ Second at Taekwon-Do Championships

Media release November 29 2009 New Zealand has added three golds to its medal haul making it No 2 on the medal table of 60 countries at the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Championships in Argentina. With one day of competition to go, Argentina leads the medal hunt with New Zealand second, followed by Germany. Taekwon-Do, which has its origins in Korea, is the most popular form of martial arts in the world with an estimated 180 million practitioners of the sport. The New Zealand team now has eight Golds, six Silver and eight Bronze medals. Team star Carl van Roon, of Auckland, won his Gold medal in the Senior Male Speciality division, making him fourth time consecutive World Champion in the division, while Luke Thompson, also of Auckland, clinched a Gold, making him second-time consecutive World Champion in the Senior Male Individual Power division. The last Gold medal was won by Stuart Maden, of Wellington, in the Junior Male Power competition. Silver medals come from the SPARC-sponsored Auckland -based athletes Mark Trotter and Luke Thompson in the Senior Male Pre-arranged Sparring competition and Jeremy Hana of Auckland, in the Junior Male Heavyweight Sparring Division. The third Silver was taken out by Kristy Leong in the Junior Female Power division while the last of the Silver Medals was won by SPARC-sponsored Carl van Roon in the Senior Male Heavyweight Sparring competition. Bronze medals were won by Aucklanders Carolina Dillen in the Senior Female Lightweight Sparring Division and Courtney Meleisea in the Junior Female Heavyweight Sparring Division. Mark Trotter won a Bronze medal in the Senior Male Micro Weight Sparring division and Amanda Clealand secured a Bronze in her Senior Female Power division. Anna Yates, of Palmerston North, won her bronze medal in the Junior Female Power division. The four-day event has drawn over 800 competitors with large teams from the United States, England, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Germany and Poland. The International Taekwon-do Federation World Championships will be held in Wellington from the 10 – 13 March 2011. “The excellent performances by the Kiwi team will make us very competitive on home soil in 2011,” says 2011 ITF Taekwan-Do Federation Championships Organising Chairman Nick Lourantos. Competition Website: (ITF) International Taekwon-Do Federation Championship at Mar del Plata ENDS

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