Team
US National Collegiate Taekwondo Team Selected at 37th National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships
0The National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) held the 37th National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships on April 7 and 8, 2012 in Cambridge, MA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hosted by tournament director Dan Chuang, and presided over by NCTA president Russell Ahn. An event-record 601 athletes participated from over 100 different colleges and universities. At the conclusion of the tournament, 23 athletes were selected to represent the United States at the World University Taekwondo Championships in Pocheon, Korea on May 25-30, 2012.
Seven athletes were selected to represent the United States in the poomsae divisions. Long Nguyen (San Jose State University) won the men's individual division, and Rene Chen (Rhode Island School of Design) won the women's individual division. Long Nguyen and Hazel Cruz (Santa Clara University) won the mixed pair division. Nguyen, Alvin Jong (University of California, Davis), and Lance Supnet (Evergreen Valley College) earned the men's team spot, and Chen, Carissa Fu (Princeton University) and Miyako Yerrick (Columbia University) earned the women's team spot. Long Nguyen, Chen, Jong and Fu are all returning members to the collegiate poomsae team from the 2011 World University Games. Fu is a three time collegiate poomsae team member and earned a bronze medal at the 2010 World University Taekwondo Championships in women's team poomsae.
The sparring divisions were contested in a single elimination bracket, with double elimination beginning at the semifinal rounds. In the men's divisions, the winners were Johnny Nguyen (54 kg, Mesa Community College), Tyler Sawyer (58 kg, Santa Clara University), Stepfon Westbrook (63 kg, California State University of Northridge), Jensen Ishida (68 kg, University of Hawaii-Manoa), Thomas Rahimi (74 kg, North Lake Community College), Phillip Yun (80 kg, University of the Pacific), Phil Drake (87 kg, East Carolina University), and Stephen Lambdin (over 87 kg, Oklahoma City Community College). Sawyer, Westbrook, Ishida, Yun and Lambdin are returning team members from 2011. Johnny Nguyen and Lambdin are both four time team members, with Nguyen earning a bronze medal at the 2006 World University Taekwondo Championships and Lambdin earning a bronze medal at the 2008 World University Taekwondo Championships.
In the women's sparring divisions, this year's team members are Kelsey Kitagawa (46 kg, University of Hawaii-Manoa), Haley Kong (49 kg, Stanford University), Aziza Chambers (53 kg, Wright State University), Emilia Morrow (57 kg, Miami Dade College), Nicole Palma (62 kg, University of Miami), Alexandra Cinque (67 kg, Fordham University), Kelly Fairbanks (73 kg, Hillsdale Community College), and Danielle Harrison (over 73 kg, Johnson and Wales University). Chambers and Harrison are both returning team members. Chambers is a 3-time team member and earned a bronze medal at the 2011 World University Games.
The male athlete of the year was Phillip Yun. Yun won the 80 kg division for the second year in a row and reached the quarterfinals at last year's World University Games. The female athlete of the year was Rene Chen. Chen has qualified 5 poomsae team spots during the past 2 years and reached the finals in the female individual poomsae division at last year's World University Games. The freshman athlete of the year was Haley Kong, who won the female flyweight division and the female 2nd Dan lightweight forms division during her first year of collegiate eligibility.
The coach of the year was Kent Kitagawa of Stanford University, who coached both Kong and Sawyer to national team spots in the sparring divisions. The referees of the year were Leslie Cheung (male) and Hyowon Choe (female).
Korean University Taekwondo Federation Team Visit
0I am pleased to let you know that the Korean University Taekwondo Federation Team will visit the California Bay Area as part of our NCTA exchange program. For your information, 5 out of 13 athletes will be competing in 2012 WUTC in Pocheon, Korea. We will have several technical clinics and friendly matches with the Korean team during their stay in the Bay Area. The Korean team will also visit Stanford, UCB and UC Davis to do technical training as well as conduct friendly matches during their stay.
They will further participate in the 43rd UC Open Taekwondo Championship as competitors. There will be a 5 on 5 tag team competition between the US and Korean team and individual matches as well. Therefore, I would like to invite our NCTA National team after we select our team this weekend.
For your information, I would like to invite either Korean or Spain University team over to the East Coast next year as part of our exchange program effort. Throughout the exchange program, we will not only further our relationship with other countries’ Taekwondo teams but also elevate our US Team’s competition experience.
I am looking forward to seeing you all soon in Boston.
Russell Anh
2011 Universiade: Day 6 of Competition
0The final competition day (and fourth of sparring) saw the two bantamweights, Aziza Chambers (team captain) and Stepfon Westbrook, and the two middleweights, Blanca “Jenny” Quezada and Jared Reed on the competition floor. First up in the ring was Chambers (53 kg, University of Dayton).
She faced Melanie Hartung, an experienced fighter from Germany. Chambers handily won her first match with a score of 7-1 to get into the round of 16. She then faced down Wassam Khaldi of Algeria 9-1. Khaldi also competed in the preliminary round of the women’s Individual poomsae competition. That win took Chambers into the quarterfinals against the Chinese Taipei fighter, Iwen Kuan. This was a familiar situation for Chambers as she fought the Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals at the 2009 Universiade. In Shenzhen, it was Chambers who was victorious scoring the winning point of the close match late in the third round to win 6-5. In the semifinals Chambers faced Hatice Kübra Yangin, Turkey. Yangin is the 2010 Collegiate Worlds and European champion and a bronze medalist at the 2011 World Championships. Yangin won the semifinal 10-5 and went on to beat Laura Urriola Ateca of Spain, 9-0 in the final.
Next up was Stepfon Westbrook (63 kg, California State University-Northridge). Westbrook was bracketed against Alpheus Shiba Mkhonazi of South Africa. Westbrook bested Mkhonazi 5-3 and went on to face Alexander Nikiforov of the Russian Federation. Nikiforov took the match 6-3 but then lost to Umut Bildik, the eventual champion, in quarterfinals. Westbrook’s win was the first for an American male bantamweight at a Universiade.
Jenny Quezada (73 kg, Arizona State University) was up against Frenchwoman, Anne Caroline Graffe. Although Quezada remained strong in the match, Graffe prevailed with an 8-1 win. Graffe walked over Burenbaatar Tuyasaikhan of Mongolia 8-0 in the quarterfinals and then lost to Mi Yeon Park of South Korea, the silver medalist. Chia-Chia Chuang won the division as she had the previous year at the WUTC in Vigo, Spain.
Jared Reed (87 kg, American River College) faced the winner of the Saudi Arabia (Faisal Al-Matrafi) and Iran (Rouhollah Talebi Kahangi) match. Al-Matrafi was a no show, so Talebi Kahangi advanced to face Reed in the round of 32. Talebi Kahangi is the 2007 & 2009 Collegiate World welterweight champion and the 2009 Universiade champion at that weight as well. He posted a win over Reed with a 10-2 score. Talebi Kahangi beat Slovakia (Dorde Marcetic) in the quarterfinals, but then he fell to Yong Hyun Park of South Korea in the semi-finals. Park went on to win men’s middleweight.
See the photo gallery.
Watch the event live at www.livefisu.tv/watchlive.
— Rex Hatfield, Men’s Team Manager
2011 Universiade: Day 5 of Competition
0The third sparring day’s action featured the Lightweight and Heavyweight divisions with USA athletes Alex Ahlstrom (M-LW) Jennifer Daye (F-LW), Stephen Lambdin (M-HW) and Danielle Harrison (F-HW).
Alex Ahlstrom opened the day with a close match against Spain’s Raul Martinez Garcia. The match went point for point with Ahlstrom leading until a third round spin-roundhouse bonus point score by Spain. Final score was 5-4 Spain.
Jennifer Daye took on Switzerland’s Nina Klay. The match remained scoreless through the first round, despite strong punches by Daye. Klay scored a single body-shot for a 1-0 victory over the USA.
Danielle Harrison in Women’s Heavyweight fought China’s Yongtong Zhang in a dead-even matchup. Harrison remained the aggressor through regular time which ended in a 2-2 score to force overtime. In the overtime round neither fighter scored a clean point and the judges resorted to ROS (Rules of Superiority). Local favorite Zhang took the judges’ decision.
USA’s veteran heavyweight Stephen Lambdin also fought China in the first round. China’s Yi Zhang seemed no match for Lambdin’s repeated clean scores. After an unsuccessful video review by China, the judges questioned the functionality of the Lajust PSS system and brought in a Lajust technician after an obvious clean body shot failed to register. After testing the system, scoreless kicks continued to a 0-0 regular time finish. Lambdin landed a resounding early fast-kick which failed to register a touch, followed by an inexplicable counter-point by China’s Zhang who won 1-0. Zhang was eliminated in the next round in another scorelsss match against Turkey who won by judges Rules Of
Superiority. Turkey continued through to the gold medal match.
See the photo gallery.
Watch the event live at www.livefisu.tv/watchlive.
— Alex Antipa, Team Manager
