2022 EITF European Championships, Porec Croatia
Nuneaton TKD blackbelts medal at the European Championships
On 25th April, Nuneaton Taekwon-Do Blackbelts Ella Barnes I and George Wright I flew out to Poreč, Croatia, along with Nuneaton instructor Miss Danielle Williams to represent ITF England at the 2022 EITF European Championships.
Staying at the Hotel Albatros on the Plava Laguna resort, the team spent Saturday getting some last minute practice in under the guidance of ITF England coaches Master Steve Millis VII, Mr Francis Miller VI and Miss Danielle Williams IV. This was followed by weigh-in and registration on Saturday evening where both Ella and George comfortably made weight having followed an 8-week tailormade nutrition plan from Paul Wilson at Concentric Nutrition (https://concentricnutrition.com/)
More training followed on Sunday before an early night ahead of the first day of the competition.
Day 1
Day 1 was Patterns Day at the Žatika Stadium in Poreč.
Ella Barnes put out a very strong performance in her first Senior competition, competing in the Senior Ladies I Dan Patterns. First round for Ella was against Ferdina Nikolaeva of Bulgaria and although she didn't get the win on the day, everything is heading in the right direction as she is looking sharper and more technical every tournament.
George Wright stepped it up for his first International competition winning Silver in Junior Male 16 to 17 I Dan Patterns in what was a strong division of 17 competitors. He put out a strong performances to win against Michail Archipov of Greece, Maxime Michel of France and Lukas Pavelek of Czechia before losing to the European Champion Hubert Skala of Czechia in the final.
In the team events Ella picked up a Bronze in Senior Ladies Team Patterns losing to Greece in the semi-finals and George a Bronze in Junior Male 16 to 17 Team Patterns losing to Czechia in the semi-finals.
Day 2
Day 2 saw the first sparring categories for Team Nuneaton as Ella took to the mat in Senior Ladies -57kg Sparring. Two years of hard work paying off with a win over Sharmena Lukashevicha of Latvia in the group stages before losing to a very good Bulgarian competitor in Iren Kasaklieva. Despite a win in the first round, Ella then lost to the Gold medal winner Maria Chalkidou from Greece.
Huge improvements from Ella since stepping up from the Juniors.
Day 3
Day 3 was more relaxed for Team Nuneaton with no individual or team events. Coach Miss Danielle was kept busy though coaching the rest of Team ITF England in their Sparring events.
Day 4
Day 4 saw George on the mats for his group stages of Junior Male 16 to 17 -69 kg Sparring. In his first match against Jakub Komarek of Czechia a 360 back kick on the bell resulted in 4 points being awarded to win the match. Hard spars against Petros Filippakis of Greece and Ivan Hriekhov of Ukraine saw George win both spars to come out top of the group and move through to the elimination stages.
Day 5
The final day in Poreč saw George spar in the semi-finals against Aleksei Jefimov of Estonia. Unfortunately the Estonian proved too much for George who had to settle for a Bronze in his first International competition.
Later in the day Ella took to the mat again with the England Ladies in the Team Sparring against Greece who would eventually go on to become European Champions. The England Ladies took the Greek team all the way to 5 fights with Ella sparring the Greek heavyweight. Ella did an amazing job utilising her defensive side kicks but unfortunately the Greek competitor came out on top to win the match overall.
A fantastic competition all round for Nuneaton TKD and ITF England who finished 6th on the medal table. Looking ahead now to Rimini, Italy 2023 where Ella and George hope to be selected again to represent their country.
Thank you to Concentric Nutrition (https://concentricnutrition.com/) and the Sports Therapy Centre (https://sportstherapycentre.com/) for their support leading up to the Championships.
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