Birmingham Tournament 2007
(10th February, 2007)
Saturday the 10th of February heralded the 2nd Birmingham ‘Clecom’ Taekwondo tournament. It was held within the Old Gym on the University of Birmingham campus, and managed to involve two full size rings and over 70 competitors! The Birmingham team looked to retain their title from last year and felt confident of doing so after an impressive performance in the Cambridge Open two week’s prior, when they secured 2nd place in the team competition.
Birmingham’s team was much the same as the previous competition in Cambridge, with only a few additions. Buoyed by the fantastic home support, Birmingham managed to improve on their 2nd place at Cambridge and win the team trophy, repeating last year’s success in the Birmingham tournament. In the process, they saw away large teams from the University of Bristol and the University of West England, as well as experienced teams from Cambridge University, Oxford Brooks University, the University of Central Lancashire and the Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College.
The inspirational junior grade coach David Grey led the way by winning gold in his category after three of the closest fights of his career. Following this performance, Birmingham continued to dominate the medal table, with Andrew Boyce spectacularly back kicking his opponent out of the ring in a match that went to a sudden death round. The rout was completed in the last fight of the day when an expected trouncing was dealt out by Terry Cooper, winner of the ‘Best Fighter’ award at the Cambridge competition, helping him to continue his unbeaten university record. Many other individual successes gave Birmingham a total of 10 gold medals, making their team score nearly three times greater than their nearest rival.
A big thank you to Adam Seccombe, the club captain, and his committee for organising the event, and also to our coaches, volunteers from St. John Ambulance and referees, helpers and spectators who all played significant roles in making the day so successful. An impressive turnout and an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere has secured this competition in many universities diaries. Only being in its second year, the Birmingham ‘Clecom’ Taekwondo tournament is looking to continue expanding, getting bigger and better for years to come!
These impressive back-to-back performances put Birmingham in good stead for the upcoming BUSA Student Nationals. Good luck to all competitors who are now training hard for what should be a comprehensive BUSA point collection for the University.
Ryan Fisher
Media representative for the University of Birmingham Taekwondo club
