Last Wednesday was the opening day of the 2011 Taekwon-Do World Championships, held at Wellington’s TSB Arena.
42 teams from around the world competed in the four-day event which is being held in New Zealand for the first time ever.
The event attracted several hundred spectators and team supporters on the first two days, with many more expected to attend the competition on the the weekend.
When Salient went to print, New Zealand’s 50-strong team was in first place, with nine gold, ten silver and nine bronze medals. Argentina was in second and Slovenia in third.
New Zealand competitor and AUT student Jeremy Hanna came in first in male senior patterns on Thursday. He summed up the positive enthusiasm of the New Zealand team with his one-word facebook update: “GOLD!”
Taekwon-Do is a Korean martial art that was developed during the Second World War. It was only officially named in 1955, and its name loosely translates to “way of destroying with the hand and foot”.
ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) is one branch of the art which has been gaining popularity in New Zealand over the last ten years