After training side-by-side for several days, the fifty WTF Taekwondo National Training Camp participants suited-up to settle who would represent Canada at this year’s Taekwondo Commonwealth Championships and Pan American Taekwondo Championships. Every fight was dynamite at this invitational tournament for Canada’s top fighters, and the round-robin format (with four competitors per division) meant only three fights per competitor, or five in the case of a three-way tie.

The male gold medal roster looks familiar — it’s identical to the 2006 Senior National results, with the exception of Radomir Samardzic (ON) who slipped to second after a three-way tie with gold medalist Francois Coulombe-Fortier (QC) and Michael Kitschke (MB) in middleweight division.

It was the girls who pulled more upsets this time. Michelle Ge (BC) took featherweight gold from National Champion Melissa Pagnotta (ON) who did not compete, and national silver medalist Natalie Simon (ON). Finally, Erin Smibert (ON) — who was 2005 Welterweight National Champion but did not place in 2006 — ended up in the top welter spot after a sudden death win against 2006 Champion Courtney Condie (ON).

At the end of the day we had our National Teams:

Official Commonwealth Championship Team (second place winners — first choice):

Female Fin: Monique Robichaud (NB)

Female Fly: Annie-Pier Turcotte (QC)

Female Bantam: Orphee Ladouceur (QC)

Female Feather: Natalie Simon (ON)

Female Light: Sarah Cunningham (ON)

Female Welter: Courtney Condie (ON)

Female Middle: Michelle Carpenter (BC)

Female Heavy: Marcela Szczotka (AB)

Male Fin: Maikol Pinto (ON)

Male Fly: Eric Gosselin (QC)

Male Bantam: Sean Vrtacic (BC)

Male Feather: Kevin Yang (BC)

Male Light: Jerome Cabanatan (ON)

Male Welter: Randi Byrne (ON)

Male Middle: Radomir Samardzic (ON)

Male Heavy: Olivier Pineau (QC)

The Commonwealth Championships are happening this October 14-16 in Brisbane Australia, which is a pretty sweet trip for sure. In fact our team is even stronger because several self-funded athletes are making the journey (up to a maximum of three competitors per division).

Don’t confuse the Taekwondo Commonwealth Championships with the better known Commonwealth Games which are held every four years. Taekwondo is not yet a Commonwealth Games sport. Similarly the Pan American Taekwondo Championships (held every two years) are separate from the multi-sport Pan American Games (every four years), however Taekwondo has been an official Pan Am Game sport since 1987.

The Senior Pan Am Taekwondo Championships will begin November 21 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This four-day event is host to over 40 nations and sees some of the most ridiculously high-flying Taekwondo ever played. Our sixteen player team consists of Canada’s best — the champions from the August Canadian Team Trials:

Canadian Pan Am Taekwondo Championships Team:

Female Fin: Yvette Yong (BC)

Female Fly: Ivett Gonda (BC)

Female Bantam: Shannon Condie (ON)

Female Feather: Michelle Ge (BC)

Female Light: Karine Sergerie (QC)

Female Welter: Erin Smibert (ON)

Female Middle: Dasha Peregoudova (ON)

Female Heavy: Dominique Bosshart (ON)

Male Fin: Kevan Wedge (BC)

Male Fly: Jocelyn Addison (QC)

Male Bantam: Ali Ghafour (ON)

Male Feather: Akmal Farah (ON)

Male Light: JF Lebreux (QC)

Male Welter: Sebastien Michaud (QC)

Male Middle: Francois Coulombe-Fortier (QC)

Male Heavy: Eric Ahn (ON)

The Canadian team was amazing at the 2004 Pan Am Taekwondo Championships and placed in most divisions, ending with one gold (Ivette Gonda, Female Fin), one silver (Eric Ahn, Male Heavy), and eight bronze medals (2004 Pan Am medal results). Exactly half of our new team were also 2004 Pan Am participants — a great mix of experienced and younger athletes. Our 2006 team will be a serious force considering that medals were won in 2004 by seven of the eight returning members.

And what about the July 2007 Pan Ams Games being held in Brazil? Who will represent Canada in Taekwondo? Just like for the Olympics, each country must earn the right to compete in the Games. This mighty task it put to our Pan Am Qualifier Team:

Female -49 kg: Ivett Gonda (BC)

Female 49-57: Shannon Condie (ON)

Female 57-67: Karine Sergerie (QC)

Female +67: Dasha Peregoudova (ON)

Male -58 kg: –

Male 58-68: Jean-Francois Lebreux (QC)

Male 68-80: Sebastien Michaud (QC)

Male +80: Eric Ahn (ON)

This team will train in Korea to prepare for the Pan Am Qualifier in Cali Columbia, happening September 28 to October 1. If a male player places top six in his division, or a female player in the top five of hers, they will secure Canada a spot in that same weight division at the 2007 Pan Am Games.

So the maximum players we can send to the Pan Am Games is eight: four male and four female. And the minimum is one, because each country selects a male or female weight class to pre-qualify, ensuring every country is represented at the championships. WTF Taekwondo Canada chose to pre-qualify the “under 58 kg” (fin/fly) division, which is why we’re not sending a -58 kg player to the Qualifier.

Okay we’re a bit early, but remember to wish everyone a happy Taekwondo Day this September 4. This one should be extra happy because it’s the first celebration of the date, which was recently designated by the KTA, the Kukkiwon and the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation.

This Taekwondo Day unfortunately falls on a Monday, though it’s not too early to plan for 2010 when it will be a weekend affair. Should we all skip work that Monday? Absolutely (unless you work in a Taekwondo school), for Taekwondo Day is a time to relax, reflect, and of course watch some Taekwondo videos!

Could we be any luckier? In my excitement over this new holiday I didn’t realize that September 4 is this year’s Labour Day! Now we can all honestly skip work and yes, even TKD instructors can join the fun.

Eight inches of pine — I didn’t think he could do it. But jogging into a spinning back-kick, Woo Yong Jung (7th Dan, 1992 Olympic bronze medallist) sliced cleanly through all eight boards and sent them scattered to the floor. The five board holders looked relieved. That was the final break of the inaugural Canadian Hanmadang games held in Toronto this past Sunday (August 6).

It was a relaxed scene where black belts of all degrees were focused on their internal martial art skills (as well as smashing wood), and physical abilities seemed secondary to their display of concentration and knowledge. Patterns were judged by a very qualified panel of six masters and grandmasters using an electronic scoring system very similar to the one used for sparring. As with sparring, this system provided rapid feedback for competitors and made scoring more transparent for spectators.

The junior competitors (14-17 years) had a blast while demonstrating precise technique and their knowledge of WTF Taekwondo poomsae. After the compulsorily patterns the creative patterns were performed to the competitors’ own music.

Being held on a summer long weekend the event was not attended by everyone that would have otherwise came (although B.C. had a strong showing and took home some medals). In fact, most people had no idea what the Hanmadang games were and had little idea what to expect, which is why holding the event was a bold step forward for Canadian Taekwondo.

Gold Medallists:




14-17 Male: Jason Wu

14-17 Female: Lorraine Tu



18-30 Male: Peter Chan

18-30 Female: Renee Shea



31-40 Male: Jason Mouna

31-40 Fale: Lisa-Mae Petropoulos



41-50 Male: Woo Yong Jung

41-50 Female: Badri Ricciardelli



51 and Over Male: Won Kap Chung



Multiple Kicks Breaking: Jason Wu

» Full results for Canadian Taekwondo Hanmadang Games.

Hats off to the Canadian Junior Team. The final standing has Canada with three bronze medals for this five-day event, the highest competition for Junior (14-17 year old) WTF Taekwondo players.

Our team of 20 athletes plus coaches, managers, and team doctor spent the week in Vietnam learning where they stand on the international scene and gaining valuable experience they’ll take to the senior level. The Junior and Senior World Championships are each held every two years.

Congratulations to Courtney Condie (female light heavy), Eric Phamhung (male light) and Sean Vrtacic (male welter) for their awesome performance and third place standing, and to the entire team including coaches and trainers across Canada who are building our strongest players yet.

Full result brackets for the Taekwondo World Junior Championships.

Following the dissolution of the Canadian World Cup Team, Taekwondo Canada will be sending the Senior National “B” Team (second-place finishers) to the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships this October in Brisbane, Australia.

This competition was already a Taekwondo Canada recognized event meaning that any participants would officially represent Canada and would receive ranking points. With WTF Canada support our team will make a strong showing and should produce excellent results. There has been no news on if point awarding for this event will be adjusted.

Taekwondo Canada announced today that it will not be sending the already selected team to the World Cup this September in Bangkok, Thailand. Explanations for this include concerns over the avian flu which is active in that region, and for the recent competition format change from five weight categories to the full eight WTF categories. This is a clear setback for the former team members, and Taekwondo Canada is working to ensure those athletes will not be penalized under the sparring point system.

The Canadian Taekwondo point system provides a current ranking of all athletes regardless of weight category or events attended. Competing and placing in national tournaments raises one’s points, which partly carry forward to the next competition year, and are used to select national teams and decide funding. Attending international events weigh heavily in the point system.

» 2006 Men’s overall ranking

» 2006 Women’s overall ranking

It’s possibly the most advanced Taekwondo class ever held on Canadian soil. While individual provinces may hold their own team training, the Canadian National Training Camp currently being hosted by WTF Taekwondo Canada in Richmond B.C. is the first 4-day, intensive program designed specifically for the country’s 50 top competitors.

And it’s shaping up to be a winner. Day one was launched with a bilingual introduction by Taekwondo Canada President Grandmaster Kee Ha and National Coach Raymond Mourad.

This was followed by a hands-on course in pre-competition warmup by Sport Trainer Anthony Findlay, who also demonstrated some rather unique strength training exercises.
Next was the first class on sport nutrition by Dietician Jennifer Gibson. These informative lectures will provide guidance for such things as maintaining healthy weight and maximizing energy. After lunch, the first in a series of mental training seminars was presented by Dr. Roy.

And what would a Taekwondo camp be without lots and lots of kicking. The afternoon was dedicated to this activity with each coach working on a specific type of drill. This is a time when opponents across Canada become partners and strive for mutual improvement.

The goal is Olympic gold in Beijing, and our team is now taking definite steps toward it. The camp will conclude with the National Team Selection tournament on Saturday.