THE third LEARN TKD Inter-Club Junior Taekwon-Do Championships took place at Alton Sports Centre last Sunday.

It was again hosted by LEARN TKD’s Alton Club, who have won the event both years so far.

With 120 competitors from ten clubs, spanning four counties, the pressure was on Alton to hang on to the title of overall champions. Every category was fiercely contested, but Alton eventually came through to clinch a hat-trick of titles.

While having some very high-level exponents, including internationals, taking part, the idea is to introduce the younger, lower grades to domestic competition before entering bigger national events. As such, many beginners from as young as six years were competing for the first time.

After height and weights checks, the competition started with the patterns events, halting for a two-minute silence at 11am on this Remembrance Sunday.

Alton secured some early wins, but LEARN TKD’s Guildford Club were hot on their heels, as were Crowborough and Tonbridge.

After the patterns, the day moved on with sparring in some fiercely contested bouts. Some nervous beginners took to the mats for the first time, but all enjoyed the experience, made easier by a supportive crowd and great work from the friendly, but professional officials and umpires.

Positions shifted back and forth on the leaderboard, but Alton managed to maintain a small lead.

‘Flying sidekick’ and ‘flying high sidekick’ for four different age groups were the last events of the day (a fair run-up before leaping over hurdles and delivering a flying sidekick on a target before landing).

This is probably the younger competitors’ favourite event, with some of the smallest managing some remarkable heights and distance.

Three points for a gold, two for a silver and one for a bronze would be the deciding criteria to determine the overall and individual champions and trophies were also up for grabs for U9, U12, U15 and U18 age-groups.

At the end of an entertaining and exciting day, Alton A team emerged once again as overall winners with eight golds, three silvers and five bronzes, giving them a total of 35 points.

Tonbridge were runners-up with 29 points and Guildford A finished third with 20.

The individual trophies were won by Tom Taylor (Aldershot), Cian Hosking (Alton), Evie Eason Warner (Hastings) and Oliver Markham (Tonbridge).

LEARN TKD have classes in Alton for 3-6 years, 6-11 years and 12 years up to adult and the club enrols throughout the year. Beginners are always welcome.

To find out more about taekwon-do – a Korean martial art – and for more information about the Alton club, call chief instructor and England team coach Paul Adams on 07932 058059 or email his team at [email protected] (LEARN TKD website at www.learn-tkd.com).