On 12 April 2015 4 Pilsung players Rickeem West (8 yrs), Ross Stewart-Young (11 yrs), Elijah Wallace (8 yrs) and Khalid Johar (10 yrs) coached by Craig Wallace & Ian Murphy competed at the Quest One to One held at Sheffield’s Hillsborough Leisure Centre.
The event hosted by London 2012 Taekwondo Director Master Mike McKenzie (7th Dan) was attended by many clubs from around Great British such as Kan Han (Mansfield), Scorpion & Ultimate Taekwondo (Doncaster), Premier (Huddersfield), Khanchul (Sheffield), Walters Family Taekwondo, Chi & Koryo Taekwondo (Co Durham), Llantwit Major Taekwondo (Wales) to name a few, the event was also attended by British Taekwondo Chairman Master Adrian Tranter, 2012
Olympic Champion Jade Jones and Double World Poomsae Champion Master Shin (9th Dan).
First out was Rickeem West who competed in the Under 10’s Kup Grade Poomsae in a field of 7 players had to perform 2 Poomsae of his choice receiving marks for presentation & execution, after a flawless performance Rickeem came away with the silver medal and a very big smile, up next was Ross who was competing in the very strong Under 17 Dan Grades category, after 2 great performances Ross narrowly missed out on a top 8 spot which would have taken him through to the next round, coach Ian Murphy was very pleased on how Ross had performed and the experience he had gained and is ready to help Ross raise his game for the next tournament.
The first Pilsung Kyrougi match was Elijah Wallace who was competing in only his second tournament, he started confident and strong ending the first 2 rounds in close contention but late in the 3 round the referee stopped the match due to technical difficulties with his mouth guard, his coach and father Craig Wallace was very proud of his determination and attitude and is looking forward to building on the experiences of his last two matches for his next competition. Rickeem was next on the same ring as his team mate and started out very strong with a tentative 1st round Rickeem stepped up the pace in round 2 and in round 3 dominating the match and winning with a 13 – 3 victory.
Finally after waiting over 6 hours Khalid Johar was on for his very first fight in his first tournament, he fought a player who was a slight taller and more experienced then him from Kanchul Black Belt Academy. The match started quickly with Khalid moving around the ring sharply and with vigour
but he was caught early with an shot to the armour and with his opponent capitalising on his experience he continued to score with a couple of head shots ending the round 0 – 11 at this point the referee decided to stop the fight in the interest of safety and awarded the match to Khalid’s
opponent, speaking after the match his coach Craig Wallace was happy with the referees decision and very proud of his player who overcame a lot of fear and self-doubt to step in the ring for his first fight.
Well Done All