Counties Manukau Win Top Honours At Oceania Champs
Counties Manuaku continued their domination of the national ITF Taekwon-Do with their fourth title in a row and eighthin 10 years as they won the best overall region at the Oceania Championships in Wellington over the weekend.
As a team Counties Manukau won 55 gold medals, 49 silver and 56 bronze to finish well ahead of hosts Wellington on 40 gold, 39 silver and 29 bronze with Central Districts close behind in third capturing 38 gold, well ahead Auckland fourth. The Australian contingent finished down the order with eight gold, 10 silver and eight bronze.
Also gaining kudos for the Counties Manukau region was the fact the Paul M Club Papakura run by Paul McPhail won the best overall club of the year. Second was Wellington’s Berhampore and Hwa-Rang Tauranga in third place with Southern Cross Academy in Palmerston North fourth.
Individually the popular Wellingtonian Wesley Filiki from the Pil Sung Taekwon-Do Club won another power national title finishing the senior dan power ahead of Palmerston North’s Alex Petrovich with Mitchell Craig (Wellington) and Alexander Hakegatoa from Auckland both taking bronze.
In the tightly contested men’s team sparring it was Auckland winning over Central Districts with Wellington and Counties Manukau winning the bronze medals. The women’s team sparring was also won by Auckland.
In the battle of the big men it was Auckland’s Sean Neary who overcame Australian Samuel Murray for the gold, but only after a full-on battle which enthralled most of the 350 plus entrants.
Earlier Rose Biddisecombe accounted for current world junior sparring champ, Bianca Koper in the black belt light heavy/heavyweight final in a keenly contested fight.
Biddiscombe, now 20 won her junior world title in 2015 in Italy to give New Zealand its first women’s sparring title at the time. In this final Biddiscombe representing Central Districts and from the town of Peka Peka .was all aggression in the final and won convincingly in the end over Koper with Courtney Weir from Auckland and Layne George (Counties Manukau) the bronze medals.
Top individual honours for male black belts went to Brendan Doogan from the Dragons Spirit Club in Papatoetoe in Auckland who gained three individual gold medals. Chris Morton from the Berhampore Club in Wellington won three golds for the best senior female black belt title.
Most of New Zealand’s top Taekwon-Do athletes will next compete in the world cup in Sydney in September.
Results:
Sparring:
Female
Senior Light Heavy/Heavy 1st-6th Dan
Rosie Biddiscombe
gold, Bianca Koper (Auckland) silver, Courtney Weir
(Auckland) bronze, Layne George (Counties Manukau)
bronze.
Patterns:
Male Senior 2nd Dan; Alex Petrovich
(Palmerston North) gold, Paul Wehbe (Australia) silver, Luke
Jackson (Christchurch) bronze,
Male Senior 1st Dan, Taine
Williams (Tauranga), gold, Jamie Searle (Central), silver,
Ben Linstone (Wellington) bronze, Calum Woodill
(Christchurch) bronze.
Sparring
Senior male
heavyweight final 78-85kg; Dylan Cooper (Auckland) gold,
Mitchell Craig (Wellington) silver, Adam Herbison (Auckland)
bronze, Michael Searle (Central Districts) bronze.
Senior
male Hyper 1st-6th Dan;
Sean Neary (Auckland) gold,
Samuel Murray (Australia) silver, Kevin Nguyen (Australia)
bronze.
Male Senior Light Heavy 1st-6th Dan
Igor Kim
(Auckland) gold, Alex Petrovich (Central Districts) silver,
Luke Cherrington (Central Districts) bronze, Dominik Koper
(Auckland) bronze.
Senior female team
sparring
Auckland North gold, Counties Manukau
silver.
Senior male team sparring;
Auckland North
gold, Central Districts silver, Wellington bronze, Counties
Manukau bronze
Power:
Female Senior Dan Power;
Kyla
Walton (Berhampore, Wellington) gold, Alicia Chapman
(Porirua ITF) silver, Courtney Weir (Team Legacy, Mt Albert,
Auckland) silver.
Female Advanced Senior Dan
Power;
Chris Morton (Berhampore, Wellington) gold, Glauce
De Souza (Hamilton) silver, Row Hope (Team Legacy Mt Albert,
Auckland) bronze.,
Veteran Female Dan Power;
Rose
Cherrington (Levin) gold, Christine Young (Hwa-Rang
Tauranga) silver, Joy Mackenzie (Taekwon-Do Havelock North)
bronze,
Male Senior Dan Power;
Wesley Filiki (Pil Sung
Taekwon-Do, Wellington) gold, Alex Petrovich (Southern
Cross, Palmerston North) silver, Mitchell Craig (Berhampore,
Wellington) bronze, Alexander Hakeagatoa (Dragons Spirit,
Papatotoe, Auckland) bronze,
Male Advanced Senior Dan
Power;
Brendan Doogan (Dragons Spirit Papatoetoe,
Auckland) gold, John Raptis (Berhampore, Wellington) silver,
Kris Herbison (Riccarton, Christchurch) bronze.
Overall
Winning Region;
Counties Manukau 1, Wellington 2, Central
Districts 3.
Overall Winning Club;
Paul M Papakura 1,
Berhampore (Wellington) 2, Hwa-Rang Tauranga 3, Southern
Cross Academy (Palmerston North) 4.
Overall Winning
Senior Male Black Belt;
Brendan Doogan (Dragons Spirit
Club, Papatoetoe, Auckland)
Overall Winning Senior Female
Black Belt;
Chris Morton (Berhampore,
Wellington)
Awards;
Instructor of the Year: Gwyn Brown
(Tauranga),
Outstanding Official: Matt Pilcher
(Papatoetoe),
Junior of the Year: Bianca Koper
(Henderson, Auckland),
Senior of the Year: Mark Trotter
(Auckland),
Gup Student of the Year: Matt Pilcher
(Papatoetoe, Auckland),
Dan Student of the Year: Chris
Morton (Wellington),
Club of the Year: Berhampore TKD
(Wellington)
Presidents Award: Matt Pilcher
(Auckland),
Special Mention Junior Official; Sophie
Murrrie (Palmerston
North)