Medal haul from Open stuns coach

MARK PIRIE

Coatbridge’s Cameran Taekwondo took home an impressive medal haul from the English Open – which even coach Andy Campbell didn’t expect.

The Time Capsule-based team made the trip to Manchester to challenge clubs from across 18 different countries including Spain, Italy, Nepal, India and Morocco.

Lauren Campbell, Andy McInnes, Daniel Gray, Shaun Boyle and Katy

Mowatt all took gold medals back to Monklands.

Jessica Murray, Millie Hiddleston and Lewis Davidson impressed by collecting silvers.

Also collecting a podium finish were Mark Toal, Nathan Toal, Martin Traynor, Rose Davidson and Jamie Anderson receiving bronze gongs.

These results meant that they managed to take a third place trophy out of 60 teams, narrowly finishing behind hosts England and the Icelandic national team.

Andy admits the club “usually do well” when travelling to the English Open but stated that the group “surpassed his expectations.”

He told the Advertiser: “We normally come back with a couple of guys who have gold medals but to come home with five is a brilliant effort.

“We had people who took part in Grade A, Grade B and Grade C competitions and they all did really well.

“For some of our team it was their first gold, or their first medal, so that gives them a big boost.

The coach now hopes this will act as a boost for the club going into the busy annual calendar building towards the European Championships.

He went on: “We are going the Barcelona open in March and we’re also planning to go to the Milan open. This is great for the club to get going and it’s all building to the European Championships.

“Some of our guys will be called up for Scotland as well at the championships so I expect the team to be at a good level.

“These are really good experiences to travel to face international competition and I’m sure the team will rise to that challenge.”

Success The taekwondo stars enjoy their wins at the English Open