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Day 3: morning competition commentary (updated)

Better late than never... there was so much happening during this tournament that we've only been able to put together a full report of the first half of day 3 now that we are home again in NZ.

Day 3 was a loooong day, they started the action bang on 8.30am and finished shortly after 10.30pm – we arrived back at the hostel past 11pm.

Sparring:

Mark Hanna vs Canada – junior male hyper-weight sparring:

The match is moments from starting and Mark is ready to bow in to the ring, but there is no sign of the Canadian. It looks as though they are ready to disqualify him but eventually he appears. He quickly realises he is late and hastily puts on all his gear (including dropping his pants to put on his groin guard) beside the ring. Round one starts – The bigger Canadian quickly dominates, Mark is pushed out of the ring several times. The Canadian likes to charge in with his hands, he manages to get a couple of points landing solid punches and the referee fouls him for excessive contact. Mark scores a few body turning kicks but the bigger Canadian continues to barge through these and push him out of the ring. Round 2 is much the same and the Canadian is once again fouled for excessive contact. End of round 2, Mark has a couple of minus points due to getting warned for leaving the ring – but the Canadian has two deductions also from excessive contact.
Loss.

Photos of Mark...

Ross Black vs Spain – junior male hyper-weight sparring:

Ross starts strong by landing some solid side kicks, quickly establishing control over the ring. The Spaniard walks into more sidekicks as the match goes on. A strong performance by Ross.
Win

Ross Black vs USA – junior male hyper-weight sparring:

Again Ross starts strong and starts to control his opponent well with his strong side kick. The USA fighter is strong and manages to push through a couple of times and lands some good points of his own. Ross backs off a little and the American takes advantages and charges Ross out of the ring. Round 2 – Ross comes back stronger in the second round; the match seems to be fairly even.
Loss. USA goes on to meet the Pole in the final, wins a silver medal.

Photos of Ross...

Johs van Pierce vs Australia – junior male hyper-weight sparring:

The Australian starts off confidant and is good with his legs, he pops out turning kicks at different heights off his lead leg a lot, Johs shrugs off his kicks and pops out straight punches to the face. The Aussie’s confidence level immediately drops and he is on the back foot for the rest of the fight. Johs continues to score clean, straight punches as he pushes past the Australian’s kicks, contact escalates and Johs gets two fouls from excessive contact. Bout ends.
Win

Johs van Pierce vs Romania – junior male hyper-weight sparring:

Didn’t see much off this fight but it looks like Johs is dominating – again managing to fluster his opponent by pushing through his kicks and scoring with clean punches to the head and body.
Win

Johs van Pierce vs Poland – junior male hyper-weight sparring:

The Pole is big, he’s quick for his size too. Johs spends the match on the outside of the ring, he finds it difficult to stop the Pole when he charges in because he always leads with a kick and rolls into punches as he gets into range. A good fight from both sides.
Loss – Pole goes on to win gold.

Photos of Johs...

Kane vs Australia – senior male light-weight sparring:

Kane fought this guy a couple of years back at the Ocianias and lost – so is a little nervous going in. The fight starts off pretty slow but towards the end of round one it begins to get scrappy – both scoring points but Kane’s are clearer. Round 2 – both fighters go at it the entire round, without a break, no bouncing, no time outs – just sparring, kick for kick, punch for punch. Both are tired towards the end, but Kane manages to capitalise – he throws the clearer kicks and punches and is working well using angles.
Win

Kane vs Columbia – senior male light-weight sparring:

Didn’t catch this fight. I hear Kane dominated both rounds.
Win

Kane vs Argentina – senior male light-weight sparring:

Quarterfinals; Kane’s opponent is the light weight junior world champion from last year’s world champs in Honduras. Both fighters start off slow – both waiting for a chance to counter attack. Kane throws a couple of side kicks, the Argentinean moves around the kicks. Kane tries again and the Argentinean jumps in lands some punches, and lightning quick, he’s out again. The same thing happens a couple more times but Kane adapts and lands some punches of his own. Round 2 is better for Kane, he lands some clear points with hands and feet – he manages to keep his agile opponent away effectively with pushing kicks and side kicks.
Loss

Photos of Kane...

Cori-Jean Topia vs Argentina – junior female heavy-weight sparring:

Cori dominates both rounds, the Argentinean is good, very strong. Both manage to snap each others heads back with strong punches on more than one occasion. Cori scores well with her longer legs.
Win

Cori-Jean Topia vs Poland – junior female heavy-weight sparring:

Quarterfinals; this fight is similar to Cori’s previous match against Argentina. Cori dominates with her legs and both have strong hands. Cori gets a few warnings for falling over when she gets in close range. Cori looks like she’s ahead.
Loss

Sam Couling vs Argentina – junior female micro-weight sparring:

Sam is up against the vice-world champion from Argentina. Both competitors start strong, Sam pumps out some nice side kicks and scores well with her hands – the Argentinean works the ring well. Both rounds look close.
Loss

Photos of Sam...

Courtney Meleisea vs Poland – junior female middle-weight sparring:

The Pole is the reigning European champion for this weight class and is very experienced. Courtney struggles in the first round as the Pole is very quick at getting in and out and moving around the ring, the Pole gets a few surprises as she walks into some massive punches from Courtney. Courtney manages to come back in the second round – both are fighting hard and Courtney collects a couple of head kicks when she stays in for too long. Courtney still manages to connect with stronger punches and body kicks. A close match against a very good fighter.
Loss

Photos of Courtney...

Mark Trotter vs Canada – senior male micro-weight sparring:

The entire stadium surrounds the ring, the roar is deafening! The kiwis do a haka for Mark as the two fighters bow in. The first round is intense – both fighters try to fake out an attack from the other, Mark launches a couple of quick turning kicks but the Canadian dodges, Mark comes close but the Canadian lands a clean side kick. Mark now has to play ‘catch up’. The Canadian knows this and waits and waits for his counter attack. Mark throws some lightning turning kicks, downward kicks and reverse turning kicks – but the Canadian picks his moments well and places clear side kicks in the gaps. Round 2 is better for Mark, he lands some clear points of his own and it’s amazing to watch. The stadium is shaking from the crowd.
Loss – the Canadian is the reigning world cup champion Maxime Bujold – it’s a pity the two had to meet in the first round as they were arguably the best two fighters in the division – could have easily been a final. Canadian goes on to win gold.

Photos of Mark...

Christine Topia vs Canada – junior female middle-weight sparring:

The Canadian is fast, Christine manages to cut her off well though and scores with her long arms and legs effectively.
Win

Christine Topia vs Germany – junior female middle-weight sparring:

Both fighters clash legs a lot when they try to move in. Christine scores well with her turning kick on her way out. She dominates with her hands and takes advantage of her height advantage. Really close round.
Draw
Round three is much the same as the first two rounds, Christine looks as though she is slightly ahead on points by the end, but again – it’ll be close.
Draw
Sudden death. This round goes for about 5 minutes. Both start slow – not wanting to give anything away. A couple of short flurries follow but the referee doesn’t want to go to the flags just yet. After about three minutes the referee still hasn’t stopped the match. The German comes in with a sidekick, Christine moves to the side and scores with a jab – finally the referee stops the match – 2 flags for Christine – match continues. Another couple of scoring flurries go unnoticed by the referee and towards the end the match had become regular free sparring. After a long round, the German is awarded three flags.
Loss

Photos of Christine...

Alisa Parker vs Germany – junior female middle-weight sparring:

The German is good, her older sister is the vice-world champion. Alisa puts up a huge fight – the action is very fast, and both are hitting hard. Both rounds seem pretty even.
Loss

Medal Ceremony Images

Convenient access to images of the NZ Team receiving their medals...

Day 4 commentary completed

At last we've had time to compile our notes and complete a detailed commentary on Day 4.

Read more about Day 4...

The NZ Umpires at the Champs - Master McPhail

The world champs served as both a learning experience and reassurance for our 5 umpires.

I had the opportunity to be trained in the new German electronic point scoring system in both patterns and sparring. This was set up in the centre ring where I spent the entire 4 days. It was easy to use and its speed meant we usually gained an hour & a half on other rings each day.

Our ring council also judged pre-arranged free sparring which was new for all of us.

Master Davidson was assigned as jury president in a ring that had patterns, sparring and team events. For him it was a mixture of learning experience and guidance to the other umpires in his ring over the course of the tournament.

Mr Darren Ward bravely volunteered (or did I volunteer him?) for the special techniques & power ring. Always controversial, it is a sure way to become unpopular with the athletes!

Mr Ward called it "an eye opener" and learned a tremendous amount - great for ITFNZ. I heard good reports on his knowledge and execution of the rules and I understand he was a valuable asset to the ring council. They also worked non stop the entire time.

Mr Eccles worked as a jury assistant to Master Shena Sutherland from Scotland. He also was given time in the centre during team sparring which was challenging. (ask Mr Eccles what you do if both competitors knock each other out at the same time!). He handled himself well and clocked up some valuable world champs center ref experience.

The only disapointment for us was that Mr Banicevich spent his time as a corner judge so therefore did not pick up many new skills. Despite repeated requests for time as centre referee it was not granted by his jury president. Frustrating - as this needs to be done in order to bring new world class referees through. Of course though, in his usual form, he made up for any lack of jumping around in the centre ring by partying all night long last night! As I type this on the plane he is now sound asleep slumped over some poor passenger 3 rows back. :-)

All in all a great world champs for us as umpires. Highlight for me was seeing our amazing team perform out of their skin from my chair on centre stage. I didnt see as much of the team as I would have liked... But seeing Cori Jean beat Germany, Luke & Mark thrill the entire stadium, and Luke achieve his dream of world champion in power was...very emotional.

Thanks to all the NZ team, coaches, staff and supporters... We are very proud of you all.

Master Paul McPhail

Day 4 commentary (updated)

Junior male team sparring: New Zealand vs Brazil

NZ loses the coin toss and must put in the first competitor - we send in Johs to test the water. Brazil puts in their best sparrer to match. This guy was amazing to watch and lightning quick! Johs went in with an appropriate game plan; try not to get hit and win on warnings. Unfortunately the Brazilian was too quick, he landed a beautiful reverse turning kick plus a number of clear back kicks on Johs.
Loss - NZL 0 BRZ 1

Next it's Brazil's 'put-up' - they choose a small, agile fighter and NZ reacts by sending in Brad. Brad sparred the perfect round against this fighter, he used his longer reach to his advantage and countered the Brazilians attacks beautifully with jumping punches and dodging kicks.
Win - NZL 1 BRZ 1

After a win from Brad, New Zealand attempts to take the momentum from the previous match and strike again for another win, NZ sends up Jeremy. The round started well with Jeremy scoring with a head kick, the brazilian became frustrated as Jeremy scored with another high turning kick a bit later and collected a wild hook from the Brazilian, the contact level escilated as the match went on and the referee is strict, both competitors had 2 minus points by the end for excessive contact. Jeremy scores a 3 point downward kick as the bell rings for the end of the match.
Win - NZL 2 BRZ 1

Next it's Brazil's turn to choose a fighter and they choose their hyperweight, NZ puts in Stuart. This round started and finished in the same way - both competitors toe-to-toe, slugging it out. Stu's nose started to bleed about half way through the round, but the referee let the match continue without a stoppage. It looked like a close round but unfortunately NZ suffers a second loss.
Loss - NZL 2 BRZ 2

2-2, tied up - next win takes the match. Brazil only has one more fighter - the lightweight that Callum fought in the quarterfinal in his individual sparring (Callum gave him 14 warnings). We choose Shane Black. Our only fear was that Shane would hit the Brazilian too hard and get disqualified by the strict referee. Shane fought smart and pushed the smaller fighter out of the ring 15 times (5 minus points).
Win - NZL 3 BRZ 2

Match to New Zealand!





See all the junior male team sparring pictures...

Junior female team sparring: New Zealand vs Germany

The junior females, senior females, junior males and senior males were all on at the same time for team sparring - so I apologise where detail is mimimal.


Cori Jean is up first - she dominates the match scoring clear punches using her long legs well to close distance.
Win - NZL 1 GER 0

Candice - up against a really tall girl with massive reach and good leg control, unfortunately Candice only figured out how to get inside her opponants kicks towards the end of the round, and although she was winning by the end, the German had scored too much in the start.
Loss - NZL 1 GER 1

Alisa - faster than her opponant, Alisa worked well moving in and out changing from punches to kicks with ease, a close round against a good opponant.
Win - NZL 2 GER 1

Courtney - looked strong the whole round, a close match but Courtney looked like she was on top of her opponant. The German girl got lucky and connected with a high turning kick on the sound of the bell.
Could cost us the round, its close!
Loss - NZL 2 GER 2

Stacey - next win seals the match, the pressure is on. Another tall German girl creates problems for the girls as Stacey finds it hard to get past her long side kicks.
Loss - NZL 2 GER 3

Match to Germany - so close!!

See all the junior female team sparring pictures...

Senior male team sparring: New Zealand vs France

Clint King - up against a similarly built Frenchman, Clint managed to get ahead early and stay on top of his opponant throughout the round.
Win - NZL 1 FRA 0

Richard Lavin - again, not too much difference in height or weight. Richie dominated the ring and scored good, clean points. Well timed counters and jumping punches put him firmly on top of his opponant.
Win - NZL 2 FRA 0

Kane Baigent - this time we came up against a slightly bigger fighter, however, Kane moved well - using the ring effectively, he launched quick barriages of attacks and took advantage of any hesitation on his opponants behalf.
WIN - NZL 3 FRA 0

Match to New Zealand!

Senior female team sparring: New Zealand vs Scotland

NZ loses the coin toss and has to choose the first competitor.
Looking for a win straight off the bat, Carolina steps up.

Carolina Dillen - Scotland chooses their microweight to match NZ. This girl has good timing and is very experienced. Unfortunately the Scottish fighter pulled off a nice clean body kick at the begining of the match and spent the rest of the ring evading Carolina's attacks as she tried to get those valuable points back.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 1

Scotland puts up their HUGE hyperweight sparrer. NZ sends our heavyweight to match.
Lizzie Faafili - the Scottish hyperweight is much taller than Lizzie, and both hit hard. The fight is spent toe to toe, trading solid punches and kicks (mainly punches) to the head and body. Lizzie struggles to land the clearer shots against her taller opponant.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 2

Scotland wants to finish the match quickly and put up Julia Cross - 4 times lightweight world champ. Estee is ready to go.

Julia Cross underestimated Estee, coming out from many exchanges worse off than she would have liked. Estee lands a head kick and drops her with a punch. The world champion's ego is suddenly under attack and she is warned for not listening to the referee when she continues to attack as both competitors leave the ring. A huge effort from Estee against a living legend.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 3

Match to Scotland.

Junior male team sparring - New Zealand vs Netherlands

NZ wins the coin toss, Netherlands chooses first.
They choose their heavyweight (who Shane knocked out in the quarter finals in individual sparring). We choose Johs, hoping to unsettle the Netherlander with his dominant style.

Johs van Pierce - his opponant is quick, and likes to counter with quick, 'in-and-out' manouvres such as jumping punches. Luckily, we had already seen this fighter in action and quickly came up with an appropriate game plan. Johs stuck to the plan and kept the other fighter away with straight kicks (side/front/pushing kicks) and punishing the Netherlander with solid punches when he came too close.
Win - NZL 1 NED 0

NZ's turn to choose a fighter. We choose one of our middle weights - Brad who can adapt well to many situations, and well suited to any of the Netherlands well-rounded team. Netherlands sends up their middleweight also - one of Master Willy Van De Mortel's students, a good fighter.

Bradley Wickman - both sparrers are built similarly, Brad tried a similar game plan to his fight against Brazil - use the ring and counter effectively. The Netherlander has been tought well and has an exceptional side kick - offensive and defensive. Brad finds it hard to get past the side kick, but still scores a few points when he does manage to get through.
Loss - NZL 1 NED 1

Netherlands puts up their microweight - NZ looks like they choose David, who gears up. A brief discussion between Jeremy and Mr Ballard follows and David sits back down.

Jeremy Hanna - even though Jeremy has 15-20kg on the micro-weight, the two stand at roughly the same height. Jeremy waits for his opponant to make the first move, the Netherlander pumps out solid side kicks and Jeremy narrowly misses with two reverse turning kicks - change of plan - Jeremy wears the sidekicks on his arm, pushes past and slugs it out. Multiple knockdowns ensue and although not many points are scored by Jeremy (the Netherlander turns away and falls over a lot), by the end of the round Jeremy has no warnings and his opponant has 7 (2 minus points).
Win - NZL 2 NED 1

Next up is David, Netherlands send in a similarly built fighter.

David Burr - the Netherlander gets off to a good start as a couple of his side kicks manage to slide up David's arm into his face, I'm not too sure whether or not they would have scored though. David soon shrugs them off and by the end of the round the Netherlands fighter is falling into every trap David lays - David is definately coming out better off from each exchange but those head kicks at the beginning may sway the decision.
Loss - NZL 2 NED 2

All tied up, next win takes the match and a spot in the semi final against Germany (into medal contention). Netherland puts in their Bronze medal winning hyperweight, NZ puts up Shane.

Shane Black - not many people can make Shane look small; this guy dwarfed him. The Netherlander also wore a full-face helmet (apparantly he is still recovering from a nose reconstruction). Shane was getting pushed around a fair bit during the beginning of the match, he managed to collect a couple of points with body kicks but the Netherlander was dominating. During an early exchange of punches, Shane went down - he stayed down for about 20 seconds as Mr Ballard checked him over - a broken nose. Shane sent the medics away and continued to fight - this was the 'amp-up' Shane needed to get busy. Shane landed kick after kick - head, body, whatever (he also managed to split his opponants lip through the full face helmet somehow).

DRAW! - NZL 2 DRAW 1 NED 2

One more round...
Shane can't fight again.
Their Hyperweight doesn't want in either.
Jeremy is put up.
They choose the middleweight that Bradley fought (Master Van de Mortel's student)

Jeremy Hanna - the round starts of slow, both testing eachother, waiting for a move. The Netherlander begins with his sidekick, Jeremy gets scored on a couple of times before he manages to get around it. Once he does manage to get around it he scores a few clear punches and finishes cleanly with a body turning kick. They take turns at dominating the ring as both pump out firm side kicks. Jeremy seems to be up at the end - but it's definately close!
Another draw!! - NZL 2 DRAW 2 NED 2

Sudden Death...
Both sparrers from the previous round are selected again.

Jeremy Hanna - sudden death - first point wins. The pressure is on - it's a shot at the medals. Both start slow, again waiting for a counter attack. The Netherlander pumps out his sidekick and Jeremy stands his ground, taking the impact on his arm. The referee stops the bout and goes to the flags. One blue (Netherlands) - none red (New Zealand). More waiting. More faking. Jeremy again takes a sidekick on the arm, this time rolling with the impact and closing the distance for two clear punches and a turning kick. The referee goes to the flags again. none red - two blue. the match continues (need three judges to see the point). More waiting, Jeremy guides the Netherlander into a corner - he fakes with a side kick then quickly changes to jumping punches. The Netherlander also jumps. Both score. Who was first?
One judge blue... another blue... one red... and the last is blue.
Loss - NZL 2 DRAW 2 NED 3
Match to Netherlands.

Netherlands continue to face Germany (who beat Poland in the quarterfinal) and win - putting them in the final against Argentina.

The result of the team sparring final will determine who will win the 'best junior male team' award - it's between Argentina and New Zealand.
Argentina wins the final 3-2, taking the team sparring gold and the best junior male team trophy.

Senior male team sparring - New Zealand vs Slovenia

New Zealand faces off against Slovenia in the quarter final of male senior team sparring.

Clint King - a close match, although a lot of action - not many points are scored. Clint is down on warnings at the end of the round.
Loss - NZL 0 SLO 1

Richard Lavin - the Slovenian is slick, and moves well - countering Richie with straight punches and kicks, very clear points. Richie fights smart though, and manages to pin his opponant a couple of times - scoring with kicks of his own.
loss - NZL 0 SLO 2

DJ Thompson - NZ can't afford another loss, DJ is up against the Slovenian hyperweight - he is huge! DJ is pushed around a lot, a couple of long side kicks make their way through his guard but DJ is lightning quick, once he got his momentum going foreward, DJ began to score good points. DJ connects with a massive turning kick, hitting his opponant flush in the stomach in the closing seconds - it could be heard clearly from the stands above all the noise.
Loss - NZL 0 SLO 3
Match to Slovenia.

Junior female individual power test

Eliza breaks everything; knifehand for two points, side kick for four points, and turning kick for four points, putting her in first place.
Kristy also breaks everything, putting her in a tie breaker with Eliza.
Stacey misses the knifehand - putting her out of medal contention.

ELiza wins the tiebreaker - Gold medal!!
Silver for Kristy as well!

Senior male team power

Jon misses punch (first time ever)
DJ smashes the knifehand for 6 points
Carl misses the side kick
Luke nails the turning kick for 6 points
Clint breaks the reverse turning for 6 points

Bronze medal!

Senior female team power

Chanthie breaks the knifehand side strike for 4 points
Lizzie misses the side kick
Rose breaks the turning kick for 4 points

unfortunately 4 teams got all three breaks so NZ is out of the medals this time.

Junior male team power

Jeremy breaks punch - 4 points
Johs breaks knifehand - 4 points
Bradley smashes the side kick - 6 points
David breaks the turning kick - 6 points
Shane powers through the reverse turning kick - 4 points

Perfect run!!

Still in the lead with one team to go - Netherlands, still in the team sparring final..
We wait..
And wait..
Finally they report to the power ring.
The first competitor lines up the punch, and bounces his fist off the boards!
GOLD!!

We leave with awesome memories

Some of the team have departed already, we leave in half an hour and many others leave tomorrow. However, we take with us cherished memories of a fantastic event, a team that have bonded and performed brilliantly, the 2011 World Champs in Auckland and a solid future for New Zealand Taekwon-do on the international stage.

You may have your own but here are my favourite pictures from the tournament...

NZ Third overall?

As far as we can see by analysing the medal counts on the official site, NZ came 3rd Overall in BOTH Seniors and Juniors.

The first pass for calculating Overall placings counts only Golds.

Seniors: POL 7, ARG 5, NZ 4 golds

Juniors: POL 8, ARG 6, NZ 3 golds

(There might be a hiccup if the Seniors "Traditional Sparring" gold is not counted for overall placing - as it is a mixed male/female division, however, they're still seniors, so for now we assume it is counted)

Full gold list (NOTE - this is an unofficial placings list compiled from the result files in the official website)

Seniors: POL 7, ARG 5, NZ 4, CAN 3, FIN 2, SLO 2, AUS 1, BRAZ 1, ENG 1, NETH 1, ROM 1, SCO 1, UKR 1, USA 1

Juniors: POL 8, ARG 6, NZ 3, (USA 3/1), CAN 2, ENG 2, UKR 2, GER 1, SLO 1

( 2 of USA's 3 Junior golds appear to be in divisions with only 2 competitors, which show in the results page as zero points)

Day 4: photos from final day of competition (updated)

I have now split day 4's image gallery into three, sorted out the order of photos (we were shooting several matches at the same time and they were all mixed up) and added quite a lot of comments so you can tell more easily what was going on.

Junior male team power win gold

Jeremy Hanna

Johs Van Pierce

Bradley Wickman

David Burr

Shane Black

It was a perfect run, no playoff as they were the only team to make all 5 breaks although it took several hours of nail biting as the event was interrupted awaiting the Nederlands to come free from team sparring before gold was realised.

See all the junior male team sparring pictures...

See all the junior female team sparring pictures...

The rest of today's selected pictures...

ITF Hall of fame

At the Hall of Fame dinner, the winners of places in the ITF hall of fame were chosen from nominations made prior to this year's Champs:

Alicia Yates, from Palmerston North Taekwon-Do Academy, won best junior girl.
(very proud dad Mike Yates is our 2007 team manager)

Doug Hanna (our 2007 Journalist) & Rose Cherrington, Instructor Taekwon-Do Cubs won prizes in the photography competition.

More Congress detail from Master McPhail

Over 60 countries were present at the congress with 2 delegates from each.
The members of the current Board of Directors were re-elected.

The world champs bid was near the end.
Mark Banicevich moved the directors out of the way and had Masters Daher, Davidson and myself stand at the front.
He then did an amazing presentation.
This was followed by the video Carl Matthews had prepared.
On a giant screen with a great sound system it went down really well.
(A big thanks to Carl and Anne!)

All the directors then congratulated us with hugs all round.
A vote was taken and NZ was declared the host for the ITF World Championships 2011.

Later there was discussion about whether to continue with combined juniors and seniors,
and Poland, the main opponent to it, said because the NZ bid was so strong,
they moved to retain it combined at least until 2011 to support us. That was great!

Day 3: Photos of the action (updated)

v2 06 June updated image galleries, correcting order and adding captions.

What a day!! With sparring to get some good images you have to take hundreds... especially with guys like Mark Trotter and Carl Van roon who are so fast that your reaction time to press the shutter is too slow... after all their feet are often blurred even at 1/200th of a second. So I have to predict what they're going to do next and just take the shot, and another, and another.. you get the idea. With so much on Regan grabbed one of my cameras and we covered different parts... Thanks heaps Regan, especially for the great power shots which there would be none without your help. Well we ended up with 2,700 images today and have weeded out the first cut of good ones down to about 500. I would normally do another cut and drop it to say 200 of the very best but hey, it's after midnight and there's another 5.30am start required in the morning.

So... you get the lot this time until I can find the time to sort them out and tidy them up a bit more.

Oh...and sorry, no time for a detailed report tonight. We didn't get back from the venue until around 11pm.

Today's photos part 1...

Today's photos part 2...

See Luke and Mark's pre-arranged sparring -awesome stuff...

Day 3: gold and bronze for prearranged

Luke Thompson and Mark Trotter win gold in senior prearranged sparring.

Stuart Maden and David Burr win bronze in junior prearranged.

Team NZ have gone wild with the excitement... an amazing evening.

Day 3: Luke Thompson wins gold

Senior male individual power. Wins to euphoric team reaction after
playoff with England and Romaia.

Day 3: afternoon highlites so far (updated)

Carl Van Roon, senior male sparring has made it through to the
semi-finals but suffered concussion in his last fight with Netherlands
and the doctor won't let him continue; bronze medal.

Luke Thompson, male individual power got all his breaks and we are
waiting for the first round to finish to see who will play off for
gold. Currently it is NZ, England and Romania.

Other sparring results:

Mark Hanna vs Canada; lost.

Ross Black vs Spain; won. Vs USA dominated but lost.

Courtney Meleisea vs Poland. Put up a good fight but lost.

Uma Goodyer vs Slavakia; draws twice then loses sudden death.

Lizzie Faafili vs Romania; lost.

Cori-Jean Topia vs Argentina. A furious and impressive fight from
Cori; wins. vs Poland, dominates but loses.

Kane Baigent vs Australia; won. vs Columbia; won. vs Argentina; loss.
One fight short of a bronze medal.

Johs Van Pierce vs Australia; win. vs Romania; win. vs Poland; loss.

Mark Trotter vs Canada (current world cup champ) . Team Haka opens.
Loss. Brutal draw as both were favourites for medals.

Christine Topia vs Canada; win. vs Germany; long fight to sudden death; loss.

Daniel Thompson vs Tobago, dominated the fight but lost. (He had at least two matches... details sketchy, will confirm later.)

Melissa Timperley vs Slovinia; loss.

Paige Moki vs Ireland. Completely dominated the fight; win. vs Slovinia; loss.

Alisa Parke vs Germany; loss.

Christie Leong vs Romania; win. vs Canada drew then lost.

Candice Millar vs Poland; loss.

(If I've missed anybody my apologies... it's been a full-on day and I don't have a copy of the draw to work from.)

Viewpoint power - Richard Burr

Hi all...what an emotional rollercoaster this morning!!!!!
Some fantastic sparring and comments from other country coaches on how good NZ now is.
CJ sparred off her face! Just incredible.
Power off to a bad start - everyone getting last minute clarifications before junior individual starts, then suddenly umpires say 'can't tell you anything else - you should know rules'. OK but then conflicting interpretations on details of rules..some coming from masters, some from jury table running event - who's correct and who is the ultimate arbiter??? Lots of coaches very upset, many approaches to main jury table. Still unhappy when event starts but seems to run through ok after all!
Shane first up but with small tear to hamstring. Punch, knifehand, side OK but misses turning, then ok for reverse turning - 18 points.
David up early - smashed punch ok, smashed knife hand (weaker technique), smashes side kick no surprise, smashes turning kick (whew!)and munts reverse turning - clean sweep 24 points!
Long wait as rest of competitors trickle through...all missing at least one technique until monster from Poland - cleans all (24 points).
Very long wait for Johs cause he was sparring early- very tough Pole for sparring. Still not settled very well before starting power- seems to rush through a little - misses turning - 18 points.
Few others on 20 points for tied third.
Final break off between David and Monster Poland - extra board added - 1st reverse turning.
David hits well but a little slip (mats again!) and not hit exactly where he wants - no break. Pole - no break. Next knife hand - David big smack but no break, Pole breaks.
Very happy and proud Dad, very happy David - he knows that it could have been him as World Champion.
Girls team power bad start - all break but dispute over one technique and no points awarded.
Coach B in like a polite pit bull arguing for NZ - just never gave up. Ends up as official protest ($100 US cash - protests NEVER succeed) - protest UPHELD!
NZ girls through to final break off against England. Dipped out on final technique - silver again.

So you can see I spent most of this AM on power.
Another big PM and then into the evening session.
Very hard on body - late nights, early mornings, lots of stress, but worth it to see your boy take a silver medal.

Richard

Day 3: lunch time update; 2 x silver medals

David Burr wins silver in junior male individual power.

David got all his breaks in the first round but was knocked back to
silver in the play-offs. Shane Black and Johs Van Pierce placed 4th.

Junior girls team power played off for gold with England but were also
knocked back to silver when we missed the knife-hand break.

This morning's sparring hasn't resulted in medals but both the Topia
girls just missed out on bronze. Christine Topia had a dramatic fight
going to sudden death with about 4 flag showings with 2 for Christine
and 2 draw but finally she was beaten by a clear punch.

Medals then lunch next.

Medal ceremony and other pictures

I've pulled out images of each person/team's medal ceremony...

Also have updated Doug's pick's of the pix...

Second day of competition pulls in 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze

Summary of the day's successes:

All of our special technique teams won medals.
Senior male team special technique - gold medal
Junior female team special technique - gold medal
Junior male team special technique - silver medal
Senior female team special technique - bronze medal

Shane Black, junior male heavyweight sparring, bronze medal


Detailed commentary:

It was a day that started kiwis in action everywhere dominated by junior sparring with lots of kiwi action characterised by emotional highs and lows. The day finished early due to the holding of the ITF Congress from 3pm-6pm so the competition stopped prior to this and the scene changed to medal ceremonies which saw more than it's fair share of kiwis receiving metal.

Senior male team special technique - gold medal

We got off to a flying start with the senior men's team special technique playoffs which were postponed from yesterday.

Romania, Netherlands, Poland and NZ were through to the playoff for gold. Fist up Jon Sawden for jumping turning kick - 2 points for a hit. The only other team through was Poland. Carl Van Roon was up next for reverse turning kick which was successful. Poland also successful. Next was mid air kick. Carl up again and gets it. Elation from supporters. Poland up and missed. NZ team wins gold!


Junior female team special technique

Cori is up first - lines up the high kick and smashes the board over for 2 points! Paige hits the turning kick but fails to move the board far enough to get any points. The pressure builds as Melissa measures up the overhead kick - no one has hit it so far. She runs. Jumps. Clears the ribbon. Breaks the board!! 2 points - Gold medal!

Senior female team special technique

Lizzie missed the high kick. Estee got the turning kick giving us 2 points. Thu collects the ribbons on the overhead. Playoff against Canada for silver on
the turning; they got it, Estee hit it but not enough to score. Bronze for NZ!

Sparring results

Today New Zealand had a few 'controversial' decisions within the sparring competition.

Jeremy Hanna, junior male heavyweight sparring

Jeremy is up for the first fight of the day - first bout in Junior Heavy Weight sparring. He has 5 minutes to get ready and makes it to the ring with about 2 minutes to go.. He looks psyched up and ready to fight. After a 30 second stare down between him and his Polish opponent the fight begins - both are quick and contact is heavy. Jeremy lands a nice head kick and the Pole gets angry, Jeremy takes a heavy punch but immediately replies with a solid rear hand smack bang in the middle of the Pole's face - both are fouled for excessive contact but still go hard. Jeremy continues to dominate with the hands landing multiple jumping punches plus another staggering right hand. bout ends...... It’s a draw! Round 3 seems pretty even - Jeremy lands clear punches but the kicking seems even... round ends. Win to Poland. The first of the 'controversial' decisions.


Shane Black, junior male heavyweight sparring

Shane is up next against USA - although starting slow, Shane dominates both rounds landing powerful head kicks and right hands, USA is knocked down again and again. Shane slips on the mat and injures his knee as he lands in an awkward position. Bout goes to Shane.


Bradley Wickman, junior male middleweight sparring

Brad vs Argentina. Brad is called to the ring and has to prepare quickly. Lots of faking interspersed with quick exchanges of hands and feet. Brad dominates the centre of the ring - pushing his opponent out a number of times, almost completely off the side of the raised ring. Second round is very similar, although Brad still dominates - Argentina works well going 'in and out', a few single points are scored against Brad. Bout ends.... Win to Argentina - another 'controversial' decision. Argentina goes on to win bronze.

David Burr, junior male middleweight sparring

David is up against Argentina in the central raised ring. David puts up a huge physical fight against the Argentinean, charging in with conviction. Both are going hard. The Argentinean seems to be scoring the clearer points. David's style is very mobile and thus he found it difficult to manoeuvre due to the slippery mats - creating a few minus points from warnings. Bout eventually goes to Argentina.



Estee Speirs, senior female microweight sparring

Estee vs Finland. Estee comes out strong and dominates with her longer legs, lots of action in both rounds - Estee seems to be up on points. Estee stays busy constantly exchanging hits with her opponent. Judges decision: draw! Round 3 is very close - too close to call... and the winner: Finland. The third round could have gone either way - but it looked as though Estee had it won after the first 2 rounds - debatable.


Stuart Maden, junior male middleweight sparring

Stu is up against a bigger fighter from Ireland. First round Stu comes out pumped up, the Irish fighter is scrappy and likes his hands. Stu manages three spectacular head kicks - first a turning kick leaving him stunned - second round he lands a reverse hooking kick, followed by a massive downward kick! Win to Stu!



Matthew Hartigan, junior male middleweight sparring

Matthew vs Canada. Round 1 seems pretty even, Matt starts strong and the action stays around the centre of the ring. Round 2 - the taller Canadian manages a couple of head kicks but Matt manages to get a few punches in. Bout eventually goes to Canada.



Shane Black, 2nd fight vs Poland

Shane's up in his second fight - up against a huge fighter from Poland. Shane starts slow once again - Poland is catching him with lots of well timed jumping punches as Shane comes in with his legs, Poland is up at the end of round 1. Shane comes out firing on all cylinders in round 2 - a completely different fighter, he is busy - scoring with a couple of nice head high turning kicks! The Pole impales himself on a huge sidekick from Shane at the end of the round. Bout ends... One round each... Shane takes it out!! On to the quarter-finals.


Stuart Maden, 2nd fight

Stu is fighting again, this time vs a solid fighter from the USA. Both started slow, but eventually turned into a slug-fest, both landing hard punches, Stu's nose starts up again, but he continues to the end of the bout. A close fight but unfortunately another decision again the Kiwis.



Shane Black, 3rd fight

Shane is in the quarter-final against a good fighter from the Netherlands. Again, Shane waits for his opponent to throw the first move, his opponent is really quick and manages to get in and out in a quick exchange of hands. about 30 seconds in to round one his opponent rushed in again - Shane slides back and shoots up a beautiful Side kick into his jaw, his knees buckle and he falls down. A couple of minutes later he gets up and makes it to his chair. Shane wins as his opponent is unable to continue.



Cullum, junior male lightweight sparring

Callum vs Canada. The Canadian is a little smaller and quite quick. Callum comes out hyped and charges his opponent with well timed barrages of punches followed by kicks delivered to both the body and the head. He is all over the Canadian - after pushing him out of the ring for the 9th time, the bout is halted briefly as the jury table has run out of numbers to show Canada’s warnings. They restart and Callum continues to dominate. Bout ends with the battered Canadian on 21 warnings. Win to Callum, straight into the quarter-final against Brazil.

Once again Callum dominates his opponent - scoring with hands and feet, Brazil gets pushed around a lot. A high-intensity match - Callum seems to be a little ahead on points, but warnings are piling up against Brazil. Bout ends - it must be a win for Callum with his opponent on 12 warnings. Bout goes to Brazil! What? Astonishment amongst the team - this should have put Callum into the semi-final for medal contention.

Shane Black, 4th fight, semi-final

Shane is in the semi-final against a lightning-fast Argentinean. Both start slow but the smaller Argentinean is very agile and manages to stay out of the way of Shane's legs. Shane manages a couple of clear body turning kicks in the first round but the Argentinean is up on points from his 'in and out' jumping punches. Second round is quiet and towards the end Argentina lands some really clear side kicks. Shane battles back with some more body kicks but will it be enough? Bout ends... it's close... a draw maybe? No, win to Argentina - well fought. Perhaps if Shane hadn't been injured in his first fight he may have come out with a win, but still - Bronze medal in junior male heavyweight sparring!

Carolina Dillen, senior female lightweight sparring

Carolina is fighting a 4th dan from Canada. The Canadian is tall and has a longer reach than Carolina. But Carolina is lightning quick with her legs and manages a number of good body kicks in the first round. Both are strong with their hands and seem evenly matched in that area. Round two is high intensity - Carolina moves round the ring, manoeuvring around the Canadians legs and popping some nice turning kicks and jumping punches. Carolina lands a clear head kick. It has put her ahead in a tough match. Win to Carolina.


Carolina's 2nd fight, vs Germany

Carolina vs Germany; quarter-finals. The German is vice-world champion. Both start strong - again high intensity and Carolina is busy. Carolina caught the German off-guard many times in the first round out-scoring with hands and feet. She's so quick!! 1st round must be Carolina's. 2nd round is more evenly match - both clash lots and points are being scored on both sides. The German manages to score 2 or 3 clear side kicks in the closing seconds. Carolina looks like she is still ahead though. Bout ends. And the winner is..... Germany!! Must have been so close… even the German coach said it was too close to call.

Junior male team special technique

Junior boys are up for team special technique. Maximum points so far is 4 (turning kick and reverse turning kick) by USA. Brad lines up the high kick but is unsuccessful. David throws a powerful turning kick half an inch lower than the board. Jeremy is up for the mid-air kick, he hit the height in the warm up so it should be alright. A big jump and nice kick achieves the height but narrowly misses the board to the left. Shane nails the reverse turning kick with huge power - flipping it all the way around and back again - 2 points. It’s up to Aramai with the overhead kick. The kiwi's pull back the boundary rope surrounding the specialty ring to maximise the small run-up space. Aramai sprints across the mat - flies through the air and breaks the board, but takes the ribbon with him. NZ are in a playoff for silver with Canada, Netherlands and Poland. Tie-breaker is overhead kick - Shane is selected. He sails over the ribbons and breaks the board, taking out Mr Pellow on the landing. 2 points awarded! Canada takes out the ribbons. Netherlands slips and misses the distance. Poland takes off too late and hits the barrier - Silver for junior male team specialty!!

More photos from today...

World Champs in NZ in 2011

A brief text from Mr Mark Banicevich: We got it!
More details will follow.
(The "Congress" is where representatives from each country get together at each Senior World Champs and decide things of great import in the ITF world)

Awesome first day for the kiwi team (updated, v4)

v2 updated with detailed commentaries.
v3 updated at breakfast for Ethan, Johs, Carolina and Richard commentaries.
v4, correction. We all thought Paige had a bronze for patterns but we learned at the medal ceremony that she was 4th.



What a day! 13 hours from start to end but the team came away with one gold plus a play off for gold delayed until tomorrow morning, 4 silver medals and 5 bronze medals.

Here’s a summary of our team’s competition…

Jason Fraser, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Jason won 1st round then lost to Germany.

Thu Thach, individual senior femal 3rd dan patterns
Thu won vs Poland then lost next round.

Mathew Hartigan, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns
Matt lost to Columbia after a costly mistake when he missed out a turn in Choong-Jang, finishing up facing the wrong way. He was much sharper than the Columbian so it was bad luck.

Ethan Parker, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Ethan won 1st round against Netherlands then lost 2nd round against Hungary.

Chanthie Thach, individual senior female 2nd dan patterns
Chanthie won 1st round, lost 2nd round against the reigning world champ from Argentina - who again went on to win the gold.

Paige Moki, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Paige won her first match - she was looking really strong, huge amounts of power gave her the win. The second round is up straight after her first match as she was the only person in her division without a bye to the second round - this time she's against Slovenia. The slovenian is good, very technical - Paige blows her out of the ring with her power and crispness - win, on to the semis; vs Poland. Like the Slovenian, the Pole is very technical, but also has huge power in each movement. Loss to Paige.

Carl Van Roon, individual senior male special technique – Gold Medal
Carl was up early in his division and was disappointed to succeed in three out of the five challenges. It was then a painfully long wait to see how the other contestants did. Today was not a good one for special technique with most competitors being very unsuccessful. Some thought that it was the new mats which were quite slippery but others felt there was less room for run-ups than at previous world championships.

Johs Van Pierce, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Johs was up against Spain and drew then lost the tie breaker. Slip up in Jun-goon meant Spain just won.

Mark Trotter, individual senior male 4th dan patterns – Silver Medal
Mark was up aganst Slovinia, an incredible display of leg control from both, both choose Moon-Moo as the optional, Mark's kicks are more steady and he looks far sharper - win. He went on to the quarter final vs Puerto Rico - also a good competitor, not good enough though - win to Mark. In the semi final Mark was facing the Hungarian who came 2nd in Germany in 2005 - a close match against a very experienced opponant but Mark pulled through and won. Forward to the final against Jaroslaw Suska of Poland - 2 times world champ - Suska is built bigger than Mark and harnesses a little more power, but looks tense, Mark has grace and flow - his movements are sharper... its close - but the win goes to Suska - now 3 times World Champ. Silver for Mark.

Jeremy Hanna, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns – Silver Medal
Jeremy has a bye through the first round and is last to compete in the second round of competition - vs Canada. Canada has nice stances and sharp hand movements - Jeremy is better with the legs. Choong-Jang for both optionals and Kwang-Gae for designated - its close - a draw! Eui-Am tul for tie breaker, Jeremy stops his reverse turning kicks bang on the money, looking sharp. Win to Jeremy.
3rd round vs USA - Jeremy has more power and steadier kicks - another win, into the semis. Up against Poland - both Strong, but Jeremy is sharper - win and into the finals against Canada!
Jeremy's opponant was a veteran of 5 world champs - and still only a junior!! Canada chooses Juche as optional, Jeremy sticks with Choong-Jang - both look strong, sharp and powerful, designated is Poe-Eun tul, again it's too close to call - draw!! Tie breaker is Kwang-Gae tul - still really close.... Win to Canada though - Silver for Jeremy.

Carolina Dillen, individual senior female 1st dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Had a bye for round 1. Won 1st round against Chile, wins next round then lost in semis to Finland; bronze medal.

Shane Black, individual junior male special technique – Silver Medal
Shane looks strong as he comes out - a mammoth jump and manages to scrape the high kick (no one else hit), but unfortunately takes a fall on the landing. Nails the turning kick and reverse with ease - he had huge height and power in the mid-air but unfortunately his foot missed on the way up by an inch. Hits the otherhead kick. Shane missed out on a gold to Argentina by one point.

Estee Spiers, individual senior women’s special technique
Estee narrowly misses the high kick, nails the turning kick for two points and picks up the tape on the overhead - still in the lead though. Carlie Dann from Aussie out muscles Estee with 3points, and Poland nais the turning and overhead for 4. Estee goes into a tiebreaker with three other countries for 3rd, Estee hits the turning but only 1 point is awarded - Canada puts the board round all the way for the bronze. Estee comes 4th.

Lunch break…

Richard Lavin, individual senior male 3rd dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Richard Lavin wins round 1 against Slovinia who were strong. Goes through second round beating Australia. In the third round Richie faces past NZ team member Hong Looi (now competing for Malasia) he draws this round twice then wins with Joong-gun!! However he was stopped in the semis and takes bronze.

Regan Diggelmann, individual senior male 1st dan patterns
Lost a close one to Japan. Regan looked sharp and it must have been very close.

Melissa Timberley, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Melissa wins 1st round, loses 2nd round to last years rival from Argentina.

Junior boys team patterns – Silver Medal
The junior boy’s team patterns look awesome, wiping out Poland and into the quarter finals with USA. Next round easily bet USA. Italy are our next opponants - the boys look good but make a few mistakes under pressure, they manage to pull through for a win and now face Argentina in the finals. It's a faultless display from both teams NZ more powerful and better timing, Agrentina has impressive staggers and are very technical. Its close!! The boys are held to a silver - but Master Davidson (jury president for the ring) said that it was far too close to call apparently the judges had it ARG - ARG - ARG - DRAW - NZL - NZL. One point in it!!

Senior women’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Lose to Argentina in the second round; take home bronze.

Junior girl’s team patterns – Silver Medal
The girls look awesome, hair platted the same way, NZ headbands and put on a great performance. 1st up against Ireland and win. Continue through a few more rounds. Then lose to Poland in the final; silver medal.

Senior men’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Floor shaking, stage thundering - the most powerful team pattern and march I have ever seen! Argentina, however, hold them to a bronze medal.

Senior men’s special technique – play off for gold delayed until the morning.
Again a lot of teams are scoring 0 or just a few points. Carl missed the high kick by mere millimetres, Jon absolutely demolishes the turning kick for 2 points - tied for first place. Clint hits the reverse turning kick but it is disallowed for foot angle. Mark had the height but his foot went under the board on its way up. Regan has a huuuuge jump for the overhead, clears the second tape by a mile, breaks the board, but unfortunately takes the first tape with him. Play off for Gold with a few other countries in the morning.

Opening ceremony featuring the Haka completes the day.

P.S. Everyone agrees it has been a long tough day. We had times when we had three rings going at once and so it was very busy. I missed seeing and photographing some team members competing which is frustrating but with 7 rings to cover it was easy to miss something. The atmosphere was great. It's midnight now, bed time in Quebec.

Photos from the first day (updated)

Photos from the morning...

Photos from the afternoon...

Photos from the morning updated with images of Shane Black competing in Special Technique... thanks to Rose who was there with her camera!