Day 1 of Competition

Today was weigh in day for everyone and all the kiwis got through without any problems. It was slow though and a fair bit of frustration as some ueued for over 3 hours to get weighed in.

It was siesta over lunch until the tournament kicked off at just after 3pm with
patterns and junior special technique events.

The kiwis fared well with the following results:

Helen Caley – Gold – Patterns

Don Leong – Gold – Patterns

Hannah Kendall –
Silver - Special Technique (high kick)
Bronze – Patterns

Mera Horton – Bronze – Patterns

Both Hayden Anderson and Robery Meleisea got through to the medal round (last 5) in patterns before being knocked out.

Tyrone Seely and Paige Moki got through to their third round of patterns.

Kristy Leong and Michael Davis got through to their second round of patterns.

We left for dinner at this stage as a couple of kiwis were still left to compete so will catch up on how they got on in the morning.

After playing up for the last couple of days and lots of testing the main lens I use for Taekwon-do died on me just as the event got under way. It’s an expensive high grade lens - Murphy’s law! So I only have a slow 70-300 telephoto (and it is too dark in the venue to use effectively) and a fast 85mm prime (non-zoom) lens to use for the tournament. Hense the photos aren’t up to our usual standard.