First International Taekwondo Catania Cup

The second term of 2016 was a busy and successful one for the Taekwondo Dragon Club. The end of June has been marked with 15 members being graded to their successful rank as follows:

9th Keup (Yellow Tab):
Nenad Tesic
Keiran Buttigieg
Neil Oliva
Jake Debono
Nathan Scicluna

8th Keup (Yellow Belt)
Kurt Polidano
Luke Polidano
Owen Magro
Raisa Magro
Miguel Cassar
Luca Cassar
Tonio Gauci
Doumbia Mohamed

6th Keup (Green Belt)
Nathan Degiorgio

2nd Keup (Red Belt)
James Aquilina

The grading was conducted by the club’s head instructor Mr. Stephen Formosa (5th Dan) and assisted by Mr.Emvin Mifsud (1st Dan) whom had praise towards the overall effort put forward by the examinees.

Seven athletes during these past months, with ages ranging between 13 and 30 years, have been training regularly to compete in the First Taekwondo International Catania Cup that was held at the Palacatania sport centre between the 2nd and 3rd July. For this edition, there were over 700 participants with the majority being from Sicily and Italy.

The formation of the team was:

Coach and Team Manager:

• Stephen Formosa

Assistant and Videographer

• Jerome Vassallo

Athletes:

• Senior Male -74 Kgs (Class A): Mauro Busuttil

• Senior Male - 68 Kgs (Class C): Nenad Tesic

• Senior Male - 68 Kgs (Class C): Chris Enriquez

• Senior Male -68 Kgs (Class B): Luke Camilleri

• Senior Female -62 Kgs (Class C): Debbie Osmond

• Junior Female -55 Kgs (Class A): Shania Maria Magro

• Cadets Female -59 Kgs (Class A): Kylie Magro

The team achieved very satisfactory results with every athlete placing on the podium, grabbing 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. The highlight of the event was that of senior male -74 Kgs Class A final between Mauro Busuttil and the Korean Ha Heonkwen whom the latter won his category, with Busuttil placing second. Nenad Tesic and Chris Enriquez were both new entries to the competition with no previous experience on both local and foreign soil.

Tesic won his category whilst Chris Enriquez placed third. Luke Camilleri had a very good performance in his first bout, but had to settle for second place after losing his final. Debbie Osmond and Kylie Magro gave an excellent performance where both outmatched their opponents. Shania Magro placed third in her respective category. This was the third foreign competition that the club took part in during the last year.

On Sunday 11th July Mauro Busuttil passed his 1st Dan Grading examination in Taekwondo. The Dan promotion tests have been conducted by the Malta Taekwondo Federation’s Technical Board led by Master Christopher Vella (7th) Dan.

Also on the same day Master Vella conducted the bi-annual grading examinations in Hapkimudo. Hapkimudo is a Korean martial art based exclusively on self-defence principles whose headquarters are based in France.

The following examinees passed to their new respective rank as follows:

Emvin Mifsud: 1st Kup

Martin Buhagiar: 2nd Kup

Karl Mallia and Rosemarie Caruana: 3rd Kup

Gabriel Borg: 6th Kup

Luke Camilleri and Reuben Mifsud: 10th Kup

All those interested to learn more about the club activity may do so by visitng the website: www.innaekwan.com or call on 9945 2010 or 9986 8789