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.
Grandmaster Ricky Wu reviews the finer points of the mandatory patterns before competition
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.
Whitney Harte performs creative musical poomsae
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
Alan Cech performs a power break
Hanmadang officials and medalists
» Full results for Canadian Taekwondo Hanmadang Games.
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