Mayor congratulates European medal-winning taekwondoka

Mayor of Clare Councillor Pat Hayes paid a visit to Quin Community Hall on Tuesday night to congratulate some of the medal winners from the recent European Taekwondo Championships in Slovenia. The competition was attended by members of the Mid-West branch of the Irish Taekwon-do Association.

The Mayor congratulated those involved taking the opportunity to acknowledge the successes of the past and look forward to the future.
On this occasion the Mid-West group brought home nine medals from six individual performances. This most recent success for the group has contributed to the region’s instructors being chosen to organise the forthcoming International Umpire Course, to be held at the end of June.
“This prestigious event has attracted over 180 participants from all over the world and has, because of its location, been set up for the first joint meetings of the three standing committees of the International Taekwon-Do Federation,” said Tim Forde, a 6th degree black belt and senior instructor.
For the first time outside of the international congress, these committees will meet to discuss the future of the martial art.
The group of dignitaries, which includes the president of the European Taekwon-do Federation and 15 of the most senior masters and grandmasters in the world today, will enjoy some of the county’s tourist attractions.
“We are very exciting by this amazing opportunity and the organising committee and I are looking forward to a very successful week,” said Mr Forde.
“After this, everyone will get down to the business of the International Umpire Course, hosted in the University Limerick on Saturday and Sunday, June 31 and July 1.
The medal winners at the 2012 European championships were: Nicole Moriarty (silver, team patterns); Áine Cregan (silver, team patterns); Laura Cullen (bronze, team patterns); Stephen Ryan (bronze, individual patterns 4th-6th Dan), all four are from the Quin club. The Shannon club’s medal winners were Louise McCagh (silver, individual sparring 58kg; bronze, individual special technique and team sparring) and Jamie Williams (silver, team patterns; bronze, team sparring).