Taekwondo success for Ashbourne and Ratoath

NINE members from Ashbourne & Ratoath Olympic Taekwondo Clubs have returned home after a successful tournament In Portugal earlier this month.

The youngest member of the local Taekwondo schools was Martin Anev, Ashbourne, who’s aged just eight, while veteran Peter Staunton from Ratoath Club was the oldest athlete in the competition at a mere 68 years young.

The students took part in a the tournament in both Poomsae (a pre-arranged set of Taekwondo moves which sees points deducted for errors) and full contact Olympic style Taekwondo fighting.

Veteran Aidan Tormey from Ratoath Olympic Taekwondo, was just piped to Gold by two points in the Poomsae but was happy to accept Silver considering the stiff competition.

Mark Ball (Ratoath & Ashbourne) took Bronze in the fighting competition, as did Glenn Doyle (Ratoath), Jurgita Varnes (Ratoath) and Aidan Tormey, who this time took bronze in the fighting.

Star of the day was, without doubt, veteran Peter Staunton from Ratoath Taekwondo. At 68 years of age, this was Peter’s first fighting competition.

There was considerable interest in his fights and he was matched against Carlos Alberto from Portugal who’s 10 years Peter’s junior. The duo delighted the 2,000+ crowd as they battled it out in a bid to score points against each other.

With a score of 4-0 to Alberto, Peter had to settle for silver. However, he was the true champion of the day and the entire arena, including judges and referees, stopped what they were doing and rose to their feet to give Peter a standing ovation, which seemed to go on forever.

“I can’t believe it,

? he said.

“I feel like a superstar, everyone wants to have their photo taken with me. It’s just amazing.

?

The full team in Portugal also included Martin Anev, Alan Lipicki, Jack Tormey and Emils Jakabson.

For details on Olympic Taekwondo in Ratoath or Ashbourne, regardless of age, phone 086-3355560 or visit www.JoeTaekwondo.com.