Galway hosts a great tournament, enjoyed by everyone!

On the 12 March the N.U.I. Galway TKD club hosted the Galway Open Championships. A large contingent of T.K.D.I. competitors made the trip to Galway for the event. The competition commenced with black belt patterns. The male section was won by Mr. Steven Nyhan of Innishannon while second and third places were taken by Mr. Paul Manning of Blackrock and Mr. David O’ Sullivan of Crosshaven respectively. In the female section Ms. Jessica Nyhan of Innishannon took first place. Ms. Clodagh Fitzpatrick of Galway and Claire Anne Duggan from Innishannon club took second and third place respectively.

Next on the agenda was an exciting black belt sparring section. In the final the stage was set for old adversaries Mr. Paul Manning and Mr. Steven Nyhan to battle it out for first place. Unfortunately an injury prevented Mr. Nyhan from fighting and he had to settle for second place. The bronze medal went to Mr. David O’ Mahony. The female sparring turned out to be Galway versus Innishannon with Claire Anne Duggan  of Innishannon taking first place and Ms. Clodagh Fitzpatrick coming second.

When the black belts were finished they made themselves available for refereeing and judging duties. This ensured that the colour belt sections ran smoothly and efficiently. The day finished with a team event which was won by a strong Innishannon team. Chief Instructor of Galway TKD Mr. Pete Spelman thanked everybody for coming to such an enjoyable tournament, he also thanked everyone who helped out and he hopes to see you all back again next year for more competition. Tounament organizer Mr. Oliver Mc Carthy said “it has been a great day for us  and to see so many high profile competitors here makes it really worth while, to name just two we have the ITF middle and heavy weight champion of the world, Mr. James Dwyer and Mr. Padraig O Connor, people enjoyed meeting these champs and it was a privilege to have them here, thanks to everyone who attended and helped out’’

Some competitors decided to finish off their weekend in the west by competing in the I.U.T.F. Connaught championships on the Sunday. Mr. Manning continued his winning streak by winning the lightweight sparring section. It proved to be a successful weekend for the association with the hosting of another successful event and competitors showing a high standard!!!