Team
2012 World University Taekwondo Championships Poomsae Summary
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The USA Poomsae Team opened the competition with a strong showing these first two days. Rene Chen
(Women’s Individual, Rhode Island School of Design, Medford, MA) and Long Nguyen (San Jose State
University, San Jose, CA) both advanced to the final round. The level of competition was extremely high
with many former medalists amongst the group.
Competing in the semifinal round, Chen performed pal jung and koryo to beat out many top nations to
advance. In the finals, she competed in keumgang and taebaek and showed much strength and stability
throughout both forms. All performances were very solid, and she finished the day in 7 th place overall.
This is the best result for a US female individual poomsae competitor at a world collegiate event, besting
her performance last year when she placed 8th at the Summer World University Games in Shenzhen,
China.
Nguyen, also in the semifinal round, performed koryo and keumgang to advance to the final round
where he performed taebaek and pyongwon. This is his first year representing the US in the Men’s
Individual category and showed great tenacity and rhythm throughout his performances. He finished the
day with an impressive 8th overall position.
Day 2 of competition consisted of three events. Starting off the day was the Mixed Pairs Division
represented by Hazel Cruz (Santa Clara University, Hayward, CA) and Long Nguyen. They opened with
keumgang and taebaek in the semi-final round. This is the first time the pair has competed together at
Collegiate Worlds and their performance was very solid and showed great power and synchronization
throughout both forms. They were shy of the final round by only 0.18, placing 9 th overall.
Women’s Team, comprised of Rene Chen, Carissa Fu (Princeton University, New York, NY), and Miyako
Yerick (Columbia University, Annandale, VA), competed second. Competing with keumgang and taebaek
in the finals, they represented the US well, despite slight wobbles in keumgang. They came back with a
strong taebaek to finish the day 7th overall. The women had a very tough draw competing with a group
of multiple former world medalists.
The final event of Day 2 was the Men’s Team Division, comprised of Alvin Jong (University of California,
Davis, San Jose, CA) Long Nguyen, and Lance Supnet (Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, CA). Performing
taebaek and pyongwon in the finals, they had the best result of all events across the 2 days: they
narrowly missed the medal stand by 0.16, finishing 5th overall.
All poomsae competitors showed great determination and focus. They did an amazing job against an
experienced international crowd and are working successfully to improve the international reputation of
poomsae in the United States. The caliber of competition has increased tremendously over the past few
years. US Poomsae Team Head Coach Huy Nguyen said, “With each competition, we are continuing to
learn from the top athletes and coaches in this discipline. There is definitely room for growth, however,
we continue to hang close with the top teams and increase our level with each passing year. We had a
great year, and it’ll be even better next year.”
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
