Olympic Day Taekwondo Championship dominated by females and young athletes
The Guyana Taekwondo Association (GTA) on Sunday last, recently held the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) sponsored Olympic Day Taekwondo Championship in observance of the Olympic Day 2016. The competition saw athletes participating in various divisions of the Poomsae (forms), combat (self defence), Aerial Kicksand Gyrugi (fighting) categories. In the children’s gyrugi division Akil St. Hill and Sasha Singh battle it out for the first and second place place, with St. Hill emerging victorious, followed by Steven Singh in third, while
GTA’s youngest athlete, four-year-old, Vivek Bassoo shared fourth place
Ezekiel Kellmon and GTA’s youngest athlete, four year old, Vivek Bassoo shared fourth place. Leading the charts in the Junior Boys division was Randy Ali. In the Poomsae, combat, Aerial Kicks and Gyrugi (fighting) young Randy Ali lead the all the way, while his brother Brandon Ali settled for the second place position. Then in the Beginners category, Randy Deochan led the competition in the Aerial Kicks followed by Harry Solomon second and Chaves Greaves third. Deochan again dominated in the gyrugi division whilst Dishon John took second and Chaves Greaves came in third place. The Mix Intermediate 1 division: poomsae (forms) and Aerial Kicks was led by sixteen years old Miss Celina Yong who shocked the judges with her outstanding performances, followed by Ronaldo Fernandes who came in second with just a few points behind whilst Romaul Persaud took third place and Kevic Lall settling for fourth place. This division got even more excited as the athletes battled it out in the gyrugi category. In the gold medal round Miss Celina Yong and Ronaldo Fernandesbattled it out. This fight attracted much excitement as both athletes gave it their all to take the winners spot, but it was Fernandes who eventually took the first place position and Miss Yong settled for second with Kevic Lall and Romaul Persaud taking the third and fourth place respectively. In the Intermediate 2 division: poomsae (forms), Combat and Aerial Kicks, David Brown took first place followed by Ray Samaroo in second and Jason Haywood in third place. Then in the fighting category, the action heated once more as David Brown and Ray Samaroo fought for the first place position. However, it was Brown who took the first place position while Samaroo had to settle for the second place, followed by Shakeel Rahat in third and Jason Haywood in fourth place. At the end of the competition, with a unanimous vote by all the judges, the most coveted prize, overall champion, was awarded to Miss. Celina Yong. Miss. Yong who competed with a disadvantage but rose above all odds with her remarkable performances. She will indeed have much to celebrate as she will be celebrating her sixteen birthday in the next few days. This competition was successfully coordinated and pulled off by Coach – Ms. La Toya Herbert, who was happy and excited to work with all the participants, judges and coaches. She would also like to convey her thanks to all the instructors who came out and offer their support and would like to say a special thanks the Guyana Olympic Association, Coach / Master Ramjeet Ramphal, Coach / Master Roy Bacchus ,Coach Alim Azimullah, Coach Trevor Bassoo, Athletes Stefan Wong, Wayne Forde, Orlando Van-Rossum, Kieren Dennison and all others who helped to make this event a success. Meanwhile, the public is being reminded that the Guyana Taekwondo Association training facility is located in Woolford Avenue upstairs at the Guyana Teacher’s Union Hall. Classes are held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 17:00h to 19:00h. For further details you can contact Mr Roy Bacchus on 644-4402 or Ms. La Toya Herbert on 670-2615.
