Southern Cross club’s medal haul
A group of young competitors from Palmerston North’s Southern Cross Taekwon-do Academy returned from Sydney with a large haul of world cup medals.
The club won 18 medals at the recent International Taekwondo Federation world cup: six gold medals, seven silvers and five bronze, putting them 10th in the club rankings.
There were more than 1000 competitors at the event. Southern Cross sent 22 athletes to the four-day event, making it the second-biggest club from New Zealand to enter.
Coach Lawrence Mantjika said it was the biggest team the club had sent.
‘‘We set a goal for it last time. The most we took from our club for a world cup was about six. This time we had quite a few.’’
Jake Dallow (Awatapu College) won gold in sparring, Reuben Watson (Palmerston North Boys’ High School) won silver in sparring, Bailey Jeffery (Feilding High School) won gold in sparring and bronze in the special category and Jack Watson (Boys’ High) won silver in sparring and gold in the prearranged.
Also, Dan Yates (Waiopehu College) won gold in the prearranged sparring and bronze in sparring, Jess Bills (Palmerston North Girls’ High School) was awarded silver in sparring and patterns, while Janae Whakarau (Waiopehu) won gold in sparring and bronze in patterns.
The Southern Cross junior black belt team of Jack Watson, Dan Yates, Bailey Jeffrey, Connor Mitchell, Callum Mitchell, and Alex Morozov won bronze in team sparring and silver in team patterns.
Connor and Callum Mitchell go to Waiopehu and Morozov is at Boys’ High.
Also in the medal haul were recent school leavers Alex Petrovich (gold in power breaking), Matt Bowden (gold in patterns), Rose Biddiscombe (silver in sparring) and Paula Bowden (silver in patterns and gold in special).
Their senior black belt team of Petrovich, Bowden, Jaime Searle, Timothy Searle and Michael Searle won bronze in the patterns.