Welcome to Irish United Taekwon-do Federation

This years Open National Championships was hosted by the Cork Institute of Technology TKD Club. The event was attended by clubs from all four corners of the country with special guests from the UK (Mr. Khalid Iqbal's AMA Taekwon Do), Scotland and ITF Belgium. The overall winning club was the South West Taekwon Do Centre (Tralee) with Galway Taekwon Do Centre in second. The Cork Institute of Technology won the most points for a senior club (ie. Points for adults only).

The Black Belt Sparring sections were all quite large with the following winners:

Mens: -64kg Mr Eugin Metvi (Galway): -70kg Mr. Wesley O Regan (CIT,Cork): -80kg Mr. Padraig O Connor (Listowel): +80kg Mr. Sean Keane (Charleville)

Ladies: -58kg Ms Norma Carroll (CIT, Cork): +58kg Ms. Deborah Donovan (Tralee).

The IUTF Annual Dinner and Awards Night was held on the same night. The first section was the presentation of all Black Belt certs and this was followed by the Annual Competitor of theYear Awards. The results were as follows:

Female Competitor of the Year: Ms Norma O Carroll, CIT, (Instructor: Ms. Patricia Dalton)
Junior Competitor of the Year: Padraig O Connor, Listowel Taekwon Do Centre, (Instructor: Mr. John Riordan)

There was a special award presented to Mr. Padie O Shea for the hard work and dedication shown through out the year.

Padraig O Connor of the Listowel Taekwon Do Club was crowned the 2002 ITF Junior World Champion in Buenos Aires in November. He now adds this win to other his long list of titles, which include: the Taekwon Do International Open World Championships (Gold x2, individual and team, 2000, Holland), the AIMAA Open Martial Arts World Championships (2001, Dublin), the Taekwon Do International Open European Championships (Gold, 2001, England), The WKA Kickboxing World Cup (Gold, 2001, Germany), the WKA Kickboxing World Championships (Gold, 2001, Austria), The WKA World Kickboxing Championships (Silver/Seniors, -80kg, 2002, Italy).

John O Connor also won a bronze medal in the -58kg sparring. John is the WKA Junior Kickboxing Gold medal winner for 2002 in Itlay (-55kg). Jonathan Dowling of Tralee lost by split decision to the eventual winner of the same -58kg section. His opponent beat John O Connor in the semi finals. Sadly for the team, one of the members (Damien O Sullivan) got injured in the Leinster Championships only three weeks prior to the event. This drastically weakened the team. They were very unlucky to loose out in the Quarterfinals to Canada. It was dead evens going into the last bout with Jonathan Dowling ahead until the last ten seconds. His opponent scored with only seconds to spare and Canada went through. The team was coached by Mr. Dalton, who also participated in the ITF Congress. The trip was funded by the IUTF.

A group of 48 competitors, parents and instructors flew to Germany for four days to compete in the WKA World Cup and the Open German Taekwon Do Championships. The IUTF members took a total of 26 medals with Gold medals going to Deirdre O Flynn (Millstreet), Maria Lydon (Galway), John O Connor (Listowel) and Claire O Sullivan (Caherciveen). The group were coached by Mr. John Riordan, Mr. Shane Fitzgibbon and Ms Patricia Dalton. The complete list of winners is as follows:

Mark Dowling (-65) 2nd

Mr.Wesley O Regan(-75) 3rd

Ms.Triona Daly, 3rd,Tul

Ms.Norma Carroll(-60), 3rd

Deirdre OFlynn, (+65) 1st

Ms.Debra Donovan, (+75) 2nd

Jason McAuliffe, (-40) 3rd, 2nd

Eoghan Doyle, (-25) 2nd

Ciaran Doyle, (-30) 3rd

Angela O Connor,(-35) 2nd, 2ndTul, 3rd

Eoin Duffy,(-40) 2nd

Jennifer O Neill, (-65) 2nd, 3rd

Maria Lydon, (-40) 1st

Evan Gibbon, (-45) 3rd, 3rd

Christopher Fay-Regan, (-75) 3rd

Ms.Orla O Shea, (+65) 2nd

John O Connor, (-55) 1st

Claire O Sullivan, (-60) 1st, 2nd

Mr. Dalton took a team to the BUTF British Championships in London and came back with the

following results:

Mr. Padraig O Connor: Gold, sparring, -82kg

Mr. Patrick O Riordan: Gold, sparring, -76kg

Ms. Norma O Carroll: Silver, sparring, -64kg

Ms Deborah Donovan, Silver, sparring, +64kg

A special mention should go to Mr. Patrick O Riordan who won four bouts against top quality opposition. Mr. Timmie Murphy was unlucky to loose out in a split decision in a red hot under 70kg section. The overall standard of the tournament was fantastic and was a great inspiration to the IUTF competitors. The organisation was second to none. Mr. Dalton would like to pay special thanks to Master Choy and the BUTF for the warm welcome and fair judging. The trip was funded by the IUTF.

John O Connor of the Listowel Taekwon-do Centre became the 2002 Junior WKA World Kickboxing champion in Italy in the -65kg Light Contact section. The complete list of winners are below:

Adults:

Mr. Padraig O Connor, silver, -80kg

Mr. Sean Keane, bronze, -80kg

Mr. Wesley O Regan, bronze, -70kg

Ms. Deborah Donovan, bronze, -70kg

Ms. Norma Carroll, bronze, -60kg

Ms. Aoife Foley, bronze, -65kg

Juniors:
John O Connor, gold, -55kg

Kevin Larkin, silver, +75kg

Dara O Shea, silver, -75kg

Katie Adamkievz, silver, -50kg

The team which spent a sun soaked week in Italy and Belgium was headed by senior coach, Mr. Dalton. Mr. Riordan was in charge of the Juniors. They were ably assisted by Ms. Patricia Dalton (seniors) and Mr. Paudie O Shea (juniors).

Mr. Dalton, Mr. Riordan and Mrs Dalton travelled to London to train under ITF President, Master Choi Jung Hwa and Grandmaster Kong Young Il. The event was organised by Great Britain ITF and it proved to be a weekend to remember for the Irish group. Grand Master Kong concentrated on sparring techniques while Master Choi emphasised correct technique for ITF Tul. Master Choi placed particular stress on the need for power in the performance of patterns (at the appropriate time). After the seminar was finished the Irish deligation attended the special banquet organised by Great Britain ITF with special guests Master Choi and Grand Master Kong. Mr. Dalton would like to give special thanks to Master Choy, Master Wolf and Master Nicholls for their hospitality and help. The trip was funded by the IUTF.

A busy year continued for the Irish United Taekwon Do Federation with further success being recorded at the recent Master Choi`s Cup in Oakville, Canada. The IUTF, which is the new National Amalgamated Organisation for the ITF (under President Choi Jung Hwa) in Ireland, funded three quarters of the trip for the five competitors and Irish coach Don Dalton, 5th Dan. The group flew into Toronto and from there drove the short journey to Oakville where they had the chance to aquaint themselves with some of the international competitors and friends. All six IUTF members helped with the judging and refereeing on the Saturday and it was early to bed in preparation for the big event the following day. The competition had participants from far away fields as India, Puetro Rico, Britain, and the USA and each division had a large number of contestants. First up was the patterns events where Patricia Dalton and Mark Philpott each won bronze medals. Dalton was scheduled to fight but had to abandon the plans due the discoveryof being pregnant. "I only found out the day before and was totally surprised. I decided to take a test since I was having such trouble making the weight and while it was very dissapointing not being able to fight, this was obviously overshadowed the our joy at the good news."

Prior to the sparring the large crowd was able to experience two fantastic demonstrations by Master Robert Wheatley and Mr. Mike Morningstar.The atmosphere was electric and the anticipation for the black belt sparring was intense. This served to only motivate the Irish fighters more as they took to the floor. First out was Shane Fitzgibbon of Galway (+80kg) who got a buy in the first round and easily won his second and third round ties to reach the semi finals where he fought the eventual winner Zab Epsi of the BUTF. It was a close fight but Epsi`s superior leg reach was the telling factor as he took the decision.

IUTF male fighter of the year Mark Philpott was hoping to add to his bronze medal in the patterns and he easily made it to the final of the -63kg section. Philpott, who is from Cork, was fighting an English opponent from the Imperial Taekwon Do Association in a very closely contested final. In a bout which could have gone either way the Irish man was declared the winner to the delight of his IUTF supporters. Sean Keane of Limerick proved to be on fire in the -80kg section and powered through all of his first three opponents with ease to make it to the final. In the final he continued with his buzz saw, non stop style and looked to have easily won against his Canadian opponent only to hear the announcement of "Draw." In the extra time his opponent scored with a hook kick to the head and this was enough to sway the judges in favour of the Canadian. In truth however, the bout should have never have gone to extra time. The final tally of six medals for five competitors was more than compensatory for the poor decision and the team had a good excuse to celebrate into the late hours that night.

The following day was a special one for Shane Fitzgibbon as he proved successful in his promotion to 4th Dan. Afterwards he thanked his instructor for the years of inspiration and help. "Mr. Dalton has done a wonderful job in leading the Irish United Taekwon Do Federation into such a force both nationally and internationally. I am very proud to be his third student to successfully test to 4th Dan and I can only dream about what the future holds. Every year the association just gets better and better and like Mr. Dalton says we can never rest on our laurels, we must strive to continue to improve, to be the best that we can be."

Some of the senior instructors of the IUTF recently spent a week completing the annual IUTF

instructors course in Tunisia. All instructors of 3rd dan and above qualified for the course which

included training each morning for three to four hours. The sessions were instructed by Mr.

Dalton and Mr. McCarthy with concentration on patterns and self defence. Mr. Riordan, Vice

Chairperson, commented that the trip is a very important bonding experience for the instructors

and that he can not wait for next year to come around- "while the training is great, the craic

(fun for non Irish readers) is usually great. It gives us a chance to improve our Taekwon do

technique and our dancing technique." The trip was funded by the IUTF.

IUTF Junior Team coach, Mr. John Riordan (4th Dan) took six junior black belts to a kickboxing

event in England in April. According to Mr. Riordan "Even though some of the competitors were

just 17 we had to place them in the adult sections so it was very difficult for them. They

performed very well in the circumstances with Damien O Sullivan of Millstreet giving World

kickboxing champion Chris Collymore a very close fight in the second round of the -70kg event.

These trips are all about experience and I am certain that some of these youths will be major

forces in the seniors within the next two years." The trip was funded by the IUTF.

December	Mr. Dalton Gives Seminars in the UK
December	Mr. Dalton Promoted To 6th Dan
November	Tralee Wins Top Club Award at Open National Championships
November	Padraig O Connor is Triumphant in Argentina
November	48 Travel to Germany
October	BUTF British Championships A Great Success
September	IUTF Members win 11 medals in Italy in WKA World Championships
July	IUTF Trio Attend Master Choi Seminar in London
July	IUTF success in Canada
May	IUTF Instructors' trip to Tunisia
April	IUTF Junior trip to England
March	CIT and UCD Host Mr. Iqbal