Sunday the 1st of August saw the second leg of Taekwondo Queensland’s new sports policy being introduced with a team from Queensland being supported by the state board at the New South Wales Open. This consisted of 11 players, the head coach and a team medic. Caboolture Taekwondo Centre sent 7 players. All players from Queensland acted as a team and supported each other through the day and there were some fantastic results which the State Coach will talk about in his report.

Special thanks must go to Caboolture Taekwondo Head Instructor Carlos Lakerdis and Tans Currumbin Coach Dan Hartman who were of great assistance and helped coach all Queensland Players. Thanks also to the team medic Tracey Ward for giving her time up to help Queensland for the day, her medical expertise is invaluable. The next major event is the Australian Championships in Canberra in October and it is looking promising.

I encourage all players who are going to the Nationals to attend State Team training not just to improve their own techniques but to help others learn from your skills. The next event the State will be assisting in sending players to is the New Zealand Open in April next year, but remember this is for people who are members of team Queensland. This package will include accommodation and entry cost support.

Queensland State Coach Report

As Queensland coach I was very excited with what I saw from the Queensland Contingent that competed admirably at the N.S.W. Open on the 1st of August. 23 players from Qld entered the competition, however only 21 competed as Hugh Ferguson was injured in the Qld Selections the week before and Steven Kakakios came down very ill just before the comp. From the 21 that competed Qld won 9 Gold, 11 silver & 5 bronze in an exceptional performance.

Unfortunately I was unable to watch every Queenslander as I was Flat out coaching all day but for Qld’s immediate future for international selection 2 people stood out. Petra Kakakios performance with a badly damaged foot in which she went down in pain a number of times through both her matches as well as suffering the effects of catching her Brothers virus and still beating both her opponents by 10 points or more.

The other was the performance of Jason Manjani who contested the open Under 68kg Div. winning his first 2 matches before going straight to the final where he met the conqueror of the Highly rated Ali Khalil, this was an excellent and exciting match going right down to the wire with Jason losing by just 1 point.

As far as Queensland’s National representative future in coming years I am really excited as there were many fine performances from our 12/13 yrs competitor’s, in fact we had 3 outstanding young talents in the 1 div. who had to compete against each other unfortunately. Michael Kakakios, William Dalton & Braydon Kingston all had titanic battles with each other and all displayed great spirit and Technique. As I said earlier I did not see all the Qld matches in particular the 7 strong contingent from Caboolture T.K.D who came home with 3 gold & 4 silver which in itself was a great result, unfortunately I cannot speak on their performances as I did not witness them.

The other thing that came out of the day was that all Queenslanders sat together
and supported each other and I for one would like to see Queensland clubs unite
for we can surely only gain from unity and help grow the Queensland cause and
see Qld become a power in National Taekwondo events.

Hope to see you all at State Training.
Queensland sparring Head Coach - Robert Muir

Results

Male open Black Belt 63-68kg.
Jason Manjaji (BTC) – won first in golden point 10-10, won the second 17-5,
player withdrew for the third match, lost the final 13-12 - silver

Male 16-17 years Black Belt 68-73kg
Cameron Taylor (Kenilworth TKD) – won the final 16-12- Gold

Female 14-15 years Black Belt 42-44 kg
Petra Kakakios (Focus) – won her first match 11-4 and then won the final 14-2 – Gold

Male 14-15 years Black Belt 45-48kg
Josh Bloor (PMA) - won his first match 11-1 and lost the final 14-2 – Silver

Male 12-13 years Black Belt 50-55kg
William Creen (Tans) –Lost his first fight 11-9 – Bronze

Male 12-13 years Black Belt 34-38kg
Michael Kakakios (Focus) – won his first fight 9-3 and then lost the final 5-1 – Silver

Male 12-13 years Black Belt 34-38kg

William Dalton (Tan’s) won the final again against a fellow Queenslander MIchael Kakakios 19-18- Gold
Michael Kakakios (Focus) – won his first fight against Braydon Kingston 6-5 in a close match and then lost the final to William – Silver
Braydon Kingston (PMA) – lost his first fight against Michael Kakakios in a close match 6-5 – Bronze

Male 12-13 years Black belt 31-34kg

William Dalton (Tan’s) – won his first fight 10-3 and then won the final against a fellow Queenslander Braydon Kingston 9-4 – Gold
Braydon Kingston (PMA) – lost the final against William Dalton 9-5 – Silver

Male 10-11 years Black belt 28-31kg
Solomon Hannam (Focus) Lost his first match 16-4- Bronze

Male 12-13 years Red belt- 38-42kg
Dion Sharman (Muir’s) won his first match 7-4 and then lost the final 4-1 – Silver

Male 10-11 Red belt – 28-31kg
John Kakakios (Focus) – Won his first match 11-6 and lost the semi final 3-2. – Bronze

Male 10-11 Red belt – 31-34 kg
Jarred Sharman (Muir’s) Won his first match 9-7 and then won the final 5-1 – Gold

Female 8-9 years Red belt 25-28kg
Mercedes Hannam (Focus) Lost her match 13-1 – Silver

Male Blue Belt – 8-9 years- 25-28kg.
Oscar Pratt (P.M.A) – Won his first fight 12-4 and then the final 3-0 - Gold

Caboolture Taekwondo Club Players

Caboolture Taekwondo Centre Head Instructor Carlos Lakerdis has submitted a report into his players that attended the NSW Open and can be found below.

Michael Delaney (GOLD) won his match 10-9 against TCoS Taekwondo, in a slightly controversial match.

Dylan Maggs (SILVER) won his first match easily 17-8 against Hongs Taekwondo, but lost his 2nd 2-5 against Haktari Taekwondo.

Daniel Delaney (BRONZE) lost his first fight against Global Taekwondo, in a very close, hard fought match 6-7.

Louie Beatty (GOLD) won his first match 17-12 against MUSA Taekwondo, and going on to win his final against Koryo Taekwondo in a very close match 14-13.

Josh Moldoveanu (SILVER) competed in only his second ever tournament and in his first round fight went to SUDDEN DEATH after the scores were locked at 4-4 with Josh the eventual winner against DOS Taekwondo. Unfortunately he lost in the final to Black Scorpian Taekwondo 4-17.

Jamie Large (SILVER) after a first round BYE, lost to his more experienced opponent from Hassan Taekwondo 10-20.

Beau Brown (GOLD) won his first round against DOS Taekwondo in a very close affair 15-14, and going on to win the final more comfortably against Psychwondo 12-4.

The final Result: 3 GOLD: 3 SILVER: 1 BRONZE a very successful tournament with everyone backing up from last week Queensland Selections and all performing as best they could.

Then next challenge in 10 weeks time, The TAEKWONDO
AUSTRALIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS on
October 21-24 at the AIS in Canberra.