Australian World Poomsae Championship Selections Tournament
This year’s selection for World Poomsae Championships is a low key affair with only about 50 players competing at the AIS in Canberra. Although small, most of last year’s winners were present to compete for position in the national team and like the previous two years, the majority of the divisions were won by the same players.
With only 5 players in my division (Male 31-40, we went straight into the semi which required us to perform Gumgang and Taebek in the first round. My Gumgang routine was less than ideal, with me losing balance on one of the movements and unfortunately, Gumgang is all about balance. Even before executing the movement, I knew in my head that I would have problems because I found the soft floor to be difficult to perform on since we practice on hard floor in class. I think I should invest in a few mats to practice at home .. Other than Gumgang, I was fairly happy with my other routines.
From a personal account, the tournament was a success because I managed to win my division, but it also allowed me to fulfill two of my childhood dreams, one of which was to see the deep space communication complex in Tibinbilla (I have always had an interest in Astronomy as a kid) and the other was to experience fresh powdery snow. After the tournament we went to Tredbo/Mt Kosciusko for two days and by co-incident got caught in the middle of a snow storm whilst driving around the Snowy mountains. Here are some of the photos of the trip ..
Tags: national tournament
Kim Seng says:
October 15th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Congratulations Richard on your win in the selections. Judging from the scores, it looks like your opposition in the Sydney Nationals was tougher in comparison. Well done, and good luck in Turkey.
Roy Khoh says:
October 18th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Well done Richard, on your win!
I hope you change your mind for this year’s World’s and choose to pursue a position internationally. You know you dominate the Australian field already – it’s time to go broader.
Additionally, I must mention a congratulations to the other West Australians who entered and placed in the top of their divisions to gain entry to the international events. It just goes to show how high a standard (technically) W.A. is in Taekwondo.
Also, thanks for the kind words to suggest I could have placed well in this tournament. I just had no drive to go internationally this year, which is why I didn’t enter it. Unlike some, who enter to just show the others (in their division) who’s boss!