click to enlarge12 members of Bungay Taekwondo Club, based at Bungay High School flew up to Edinburgh at the weekend to compete in the 1st ever Goodwill International Open Taekwondo Tournament and all things considered had a fabulously successful time.
The event took place in the huge Meadowbank Sports Stadium and attracted teams from USA, Poland, Russia, Brazil, Korea, China (Hong Kong) and Canada as well as all the home nations, who competed over the two days to be awarded the brand new Taekwondo Goodwill Trophy.
In the coloured belt event Ben Howlett-Cobb overcame great odds to win 2 silvers in the 15-17 age category for sparring and patterns, whilst Nidge Bedingfield won silver in the veterans sparring, Tom Raven fought really hard to achieve a bronze in the 12-14 year olds sparring and Logan Bedingfield also won bronze in the 62 – 71kg adult division. Sue Bedingfield reached the semi finals for patterns finishing 4th, Kal Bedingfield (13) finished 4th in his sparring category, and Adam Sloan performed well in the patterns but missed out on the medals.
The black belts of the club had a very tough weekend, refereeing for over 8 hours a day as well as competing against some of the best Taekwondo practitioners in the world. Lianne Hatcher won a notable 4th place in the ladies lightweight sparring, whilst Clinton Gillett the club senior also got a 4th placing in the patterns. Martin and Claire Sloan competed superbly in their 1st international but missed out on the placings. Michaela Gillett the club secretary completed an excellent set of results by coming 3rd in the open ladies category in an Edinburgh road race.
Unfortunately Edinburgh airport was closed on Monday due to the ash cloud and the team was delayed for 11 hours with the only consolation being that they were interviewed live on the 7am Sky News!
For further details of taekwondo please contact Clinton Gillett on 01986 892140 as the club is always ready to recruit eager new students aged from 7 plus.
