14 October 2009

IPC Student Wins Gold Medal in ITFNZ Taekwon-Do National Championships 2009

By Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake.

Mina Ueyama proudly holding the medals she won at the ITFNZ Taekwon-Do National Championships 2009

On 26th and 27th September 2009, Mina Ueyama, a 2006 student from Japan, participated in the ITFNZ Taekwon-Do National Championships 2009 in Christchurch. ITFNZ stands for International Taekwon-Do Foundation of New Zealand. The National organisation is divided into six regions: Auckland North, Counties Manukau, Midlands, Central Districts, Wellington, and the South Island. Palmerston North belongs to the Central Districts region. In this national tournament, ITF clubs from all 6 regions competed for national awards.

As part of the Palmerston North contingent, Mina competed in the Red Belt Female Adult Category, performing in sparring and patterns. The panel of judges made their judgements based on the beauty of the performances. This is related to the height and weight of each participant. Mina won the bronze medal for the sparring section and a gold medal for the patterns section (Results can be viewed at: http://www.itfnz.org.nz/events/tournaments/nats2009/results.html). Just last month, on 9th August 2009, she won a gold medal in the Red Belt Female Adult category in the Top-Pro "Best of the Best" Patterns Tournament in Auckland.

Mina joined the local taekwon-do club in her first year at IPC and started to participate in national tournaments in her second year. The ITFNZ Taekwon-Do National Championships 2009 is the fourth tournament for this year and the third National Tournament she has participated in. From these competitions, Mina won many medals as well as awards. Among these is the "Best Overall Belts Award" in the Green Belt Adult Category at the ITFNZ Taekwon-Do National Championships 2008 in Tauranga. Mina earned this for winning gold medals in both sparring and patterns.

Holding I gup red belt, Mina is looking forward to taking a test next year to attain I dan black belt. "I enjoy participating in tournaments. Especially this time because to get there, we travelled by train from Palmerston North to Wellington, and then flew to Christchurch. The journey itself was incredible."

The gold winning patterns performance in the tournament

The medallists for patterns in the Red Belt Female Adult Category, ITFNZ Taekwon-Do National Championships 2009 (Mina Ueyama second from the left)

Mina with other medallists in the Top-Pro "Best of the Best" Patterns Tournament last August in Auckland

<Back  |  ^Top