Taekwon-Do medal wins

A Peninsula Taekwon-Do school has brought home five silver medals and one gold medal from the recent autumn championships held in Sydney.

Six representatives from the Authentic Taekwon-Do school including Amanda Morrison, Gary King, Penny Moore, James Luke, James Stratton and Paul Mason competed in the championships against competitors from all over Australia and some from New Zealand.

Amanda Morrison came away with two silver medals for sparring and patterns.

In the final of her sparring event (52-58kg), Amanda and her opponent drew after two rounds and went into over time, with Amanda only just beaten after a tough round.

Gary King took out silver in the Men's Third Dan Black Belt Patterns division, beaten in the final by last year's world champion.

King did not gain a place in the sparring, but was consoled by the fact the eventual winner of the division beat him.

In her first ITF tournament, Penny Moore came home with silver in the under-52kg sparring division after meeting fellow Authentic member Dana Bower from Canberra in the final.

After an awesome fight of skill and showmanship, Moore was just beaten by Bower.

James Luke and James Stratton also made impressive debuts into the ITF tournament scene.

James Luke fought in the final against a much bigger opponent but showed the heart of a warrior by holding his own to tie after two rounds.

In a hard-hitting third round, Luke lost on points but earned a silver medal for his efforts.

James Stratton put on quite the aerial show for those watching his fights.

He fought well during his preliminary rounds showing the beauty, accuracy and power of Taekwon-Do's spectacular jumping kicks.

In the final, Stratton fought last year's Oceanic Champion, and after battling it out for two rounds the judges were unable to split them.

After a third round, it was still a draw on points the two went into sudden death.

Stratton's speed proved too much for his opponent and he came out the victor after almost 10 minutes on the mat.

Paul Mason fought well in one of the day's biggest events.

After winning the first two preliminary rounds, Mason was beaten by a fellow Authentic member from Townsville in thee semi-finals

Letter, June 23 Authentic Taekwon-Do