2011 Universiade: Day 1 of Competition
0Competition for Team USA Taekwondo kicked off today at the World University Games with the Taekwondo Poomsae event. Competing on the day were Rene Chen, who represented the US in the women’s individual category, and Ryan Lien, who represented the US in the men’s individual competition. The caliber of the competition was very high, with many former world championships medalists in the draw.
Rene Chen (Rhode Island School of Design, Medford, MA, women’s individual) competed in the preliminaries, performing Taeguek 5 and Taeguek 6. Chen was 11th in the standings going into the semifinals, where she performed Taeguek 8 and Koryo, which bumped her up to an impressive 6th place going into the finals. In the finals, Chen performed Keumgang and Taebaek. A couple of missteps on Keumgang dropped her to an overall finish of 8th place, but it was an impressive run and the best result for a US female individual poomsae competitor at a world collegiate event.
The other person to go today was Ryan Lien (Mt. San Antonio College, San Gabriel, CA, men’s individual), our men’s individual. He had a tough draw and had to go first but performed well regardless. Lien advanced to the semifinals with Taeguek 7 and 8, but placed 16th in the semis with Koryo and Keumgang, and didn’t advance to the finals.
Competition continues tomorrow with the women’s team poomsae, men’s team poomsae and mixed pair poomsae divisions.
See the photo gallery.
Watch the event live at www.livefisu.tv/watchlive.
— Dan Chuang, Poomsae Coach
2011 Universiade
0The US National Collegiate Taekwondo Team departed on August 10 from San Francisco en route to the 2011 World University Games (also called the Universiade), to be held in Shenzhen, China. The team attended the opening ceremonies on Friday, Aug 12 and will compete on Aug 18-23.
The poomsae team consists of Rocky Cao (DeAnza College, men’s team), Rene Chen (Rhode Island School of Design, women’s individual, mixed pair, women’s team), Brandon DeSouza (U. Massachusetts Lowell, mixed pair), Carissa Fu (Princeton University, women’s team), Alvin Jong (DeAnza College, men’s team), Erika Lee (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, women’s team), Ryan Lien (Mt. San Antonio College, men’s individual), and Long Nguyen (San Jose State University, men’s team).
The men’s sparring team is represented by Adrian Zambrano (Glendale Community College, 54 kg), Tyler Sawyer (Santa Clara University, 58 kg), Stepfon Westbrook (California State University, Northridge, 63 kg ), Jensen Ishida (University of Hawaii-Manoa, 68 kg), Alex Ahlstrom (California State University, Northridge, 74 kg), Phillip Yun (University of the Pacific, 80 kg), Jared Reed (American River College, 87 kg), and Stephen Lambdin (California Lutheran University, +87 kg).
The women’s sparring team is represented by Katherine Trinh (University of California, Berkeley, 46 kg), Jazzmynn Paguirigan (Los Medanos College, 49 kg), Aziza Chambers (University of Dayton, 53 kg), Shaina Krause (George Mason, 57 kg), Jennifer Daye (University of Central Oklahoma, 62 kg), Tasha Pruter (University of Missouri, Kansas city, 67 kg), Blanca “Jenny” Quezada (Arizona State University, 73 kg), and Danielle Harrison (Johnson and Wales, +73 kg).
Lambdin and Chambers are National Collegiate Team captains. The team director for the trip is Han Won Lee. The team leaders for the trip are Jae Ho Kim. Byung Ryu, Chang Choi and Chan Wu Sr. are also delegation members.
The team is coached by Head Coach Tim Ghormley. Serving as sparring coaches are Chul Ho Kim, Reynaldo Soriano, and Steve Robarsky. The poomsae coach is Dan Chuang. The senior team manager is Alex Antipa, joined by men’s team manager Rex Hatfield and women’s team manager Linda Buell. Providing medical care are Jo Silkin and Dr. Sherri Lashomb.
NCTA President Dr. Russell Ahn will be serving as the World Taekwondo Federation Technical Delegate for the games, and NCTA Referee Chair Jun C. Yoon and Greg Kailian will be serving as referees at the Games.
The World University Games are broadcast at www.livefisu.tv/watchlive.
NCTA Athletes Compete at World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
0Congratulations to US National Collegiate Team members Rene Chen and Long Nguyen, who competed at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Vladivostok, Russia, from July 29-31, 2011. Rene competed in the Women’s Senior 1 Individual division. She placed 5th in her preliminary bracket, and 9th in the semifinals, missing the top 8 finals by the slimmest of margins. Long Nguyen competed with his brothers Huy Nguyen and Anh Nguyen in the Men’s 1st Team division. While they performed well, they did not advance to the semifinals. NCTA athletes Lance Supnet and Hazel Cruz also competed in the 1st Mixed Pair division, but did not advance.
Rene Chen at World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
Day 1 of World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
