TTA Individual Championships November 2023
TTA Barbican club, competition winners!
This year’s TTA Individual Championships took place on Sunday 5th November and featured a range of excellent performances from students from across the TTA London clubs.
Teams from TTA Barbican, TTA Charlton, TTA Peckham, TTA Southwark and – for the first time – TTA Tower Bridge provide strong and enthusiastic competitors in both kyorugi (sparring) and poomsae (patterns), as well as distinguished performances from a range of new and returning officials (to referee, score and ring manage the sparring fights).
Well done to all students who took part in this year’s Championships, whether for the first or second time, or as returning regulars. For everyone who competed or officiated, there were lots of valuable lessons learnt throughout the day that we will all now be diligently apply in our training ready for the TTA Team Championships next year.
TTA Barbican won this year’s Individual Championships (congratulations to them!) while TTA Tower Bridge impressed with a very successful debut. Below, the clubs recap their experiences from the day and we share all the results from across the competition for each London club.
Finally, we also want to thank Grandmaster Loh (TTA chief instructor and 9th dan) for another excellent competition.
TTA Barbican takes gold!
Grant Duranti, TTA Barbican student and green belt / 6th kup, shares his debut competition experience:
Having come into taekwondo a little later than most, I wasn’t sure a year ago that I would ever make it to a stage where I would be able to compete – but I had a fantastic time representing TTA Barbican at the TTA Individual Championships.
The competition started with poomsae. I confess that my preference has always been sparring over poomsae, but this was a great opportunity to get used to the mat and the hall, to demonstrate what I have been honing in class and to perform in front of the judges. While I didn’t make the podium, I was really pleased with my result. It was also a brilliant opportunity to watch the senior members of the TTA competing – hopefully that’ll be me one day!
After the poomsae competition, everybody kitted up and the sparring competition began. I was able to cheer on my Barbican teammates before taking to the mat myself, where I loved being able to combine taekwondo technique, fighting intellect and physical competition. I was delighted to win my first ever bout, made all the more exciting by the single-point margin – hearing my TTA team cheering me on definitely helped me over the line. I was proud to represent Barbican, and prouder still of my silver medal – I can’t wait for the next one!
TTA Tower Bridge’s impressive debut
Mr Ilias Zapantis, TTA Tower Bridge instructor and 2nd dan, on his club’s successful first TTA Championships:
What a debut that was for our club, retuning back to London with gold and silver medals. Students showed their determination, indomitable spirit, and perseverance against competitors whom they have not met before, a rather challenging situation even to seasoned athletes. I could not have been prouder of all my students. And we had lots of fun too! Now we are already getting ready for the next championship, the TTA Tower Bridge students cannot wait!
Arabella (blue belt): “This was my first tournament, so I was really excited to attend and thrilled to win two medals for our club!”
Isidore (blue belt): “It was great fun to meet other taekwondo athletes in Glasgow. My favourite part was the demonstration and wood breaking. I had great fun and I won two silver medals!”
TTA Barbican
Kyorugi
Gold – Tricia, Patrick E, Christie, Laura
Silver – Dan, Jasmine
Bronze – Maryama
Poomsae
Gold – Patrick E, Annecy, Luisa, Dan, Jasmine
Bronze – Ms Foong, Thomas, Iqqra, Maryama
TTA Charlton
Kyorugi
Bronze – Samel
Poomsae
Gold – Samel
TTA Peckham
Kyorugi
Bronze – MyLinh
Poomsae
Bronze – Arjun
TTA Southwark
Kyorugi
Gold – Jack
Poomsae
Gold – Javier
Silver – Ms Garrett, Jenny
Bronze – David
TTA Tower Bridge
Kyorugi
Silver – Arabella, Isidore
Poomsae
Gold – Arabella
Silver – Mr Zapantis, Isidore