2024 UK Open

On the 9th and 10th November our competitors scooped 3 Golds, 4 Silvers and 2 Bronzes at the 2024 UKTA Open in Guildford to finish 13th out of 60 schools. 

On Day 1 of the tournament, Nuneaton Black Belt George Wright kicked off the day in the 2nd Dan Men's Black Belt Patterns.  Having recently promoted to 2nd Dan Black Belt, George faced Charles Capones of London based Wildcats Combat in the finals.  Despite having only learnt his new Pattern two weeks before, George put out a strong performance to win the match and the Gold. 

George then competed in the Adult Male -78kg event which was a group round robin.  He started well against Joshua Beato of West Sussex based Fortitude Taekwon-Do taking an early lead and controlling the match from the start.  Despite securing the win over the Fortitude competitor, George aggravated an old injury in the process meaning he was unable to continue with his next match so had to settle for Silver with Jamahl Gollard of Thanet Taekwon-Do winning the remaining matches to take the Gold.

Day 2 of the competition was for the Colour Belts and a team of 7 competitors from Nuneaton made the journey to Guildford.

First on the mat were Jenish Thapaliya and Charlie Marshall in the 14 to 17 Male Yellow & Green Belt Patterns.  With a large category the boys needed to win 3 rounds each to progress to the finals.  This was the first tournament for Yellow belt Jenish and he started out strong easily beating his first 2 opponents to land him in the semi-finals.  There he faced Green belt Keir Sanders from Exeter Taekwon-Do.  It was a split decision with 3 judges to 2 voting in favour of Jenish to send him into the finals. 

Meanwhile Green belt Charlie started out strong in his first round but a lapse in concentration meant he made an incorrect move which scored him zero and disqualified him from the event. 

In the finals Jenish faced Dane Thomas from Somerset based Evolution Martial Arts.  Despite his best performance, the judges voted for the Evolution competitor meaning a Silver for Jenish this time. 

In the -63kg Sparring Jenish progressed through the rounds and into the finals against Archie Jessie from Fleet Taekwon-Do.  A excellent performance including a well timed jump back kick to net 3-points with Jenish coming out on top with the Gold.

In the +70kg Sparring Charlie faced Oliver Murphy from Fortitude in the semi-finals.  An easy win for Charlie who was in control throughout the match before progressing into the finals.  He then faced Toby Loh of Fleet Taekwon-Do and despite a hard fought fight, Charlie had to settle for Silver this time.

In the Female 14 to 17 Yellow & Green Belt Patterns, Yellow Belt Mandy Millet progressed through the rounds to land herself in the final against Evolution's Lilia Dobreva who she beat convincingly to take home the Gold. 

In the Sparring Mandy started against Julia Bugajska of Wildcats Combat who she beat convincingly before facing Maya Elhindy also of Wildcats in the final.  Despite fighting hard, the Wildcats competitor got the better of her leaving Mandy with the Silver medal.

Younger sister Elssy Millet found herself with an unlucky draw as she faced Ava Gunning of Didcot Taekwon-Do in her opening round of Sparring.  At the Welsh Open Ava had narrowly beaten Elssy in the final and whilst Elssy fought hard again, it was Ava who won knocking Elssy out before the medal rounds before going on to the win the Gold herself.

First tournament also for Ava Clayton-Kinght who competed in both the Under 14s Yellow & Green Belt Patterns event and in the +155 cm Sparring.  In Patterns Ava won her first match before losing via split decision in her second whilst in the Sparring event she made it to the semi-finals to secure herself a Bronze. 

Adrian Clayton performed well in the Veteran division progressing through the rounds in the Yellow & Green Belt Patterns to earn himself a Bronze but a tough division meant no Sparring medal this time.

Blue Belt Naisha Patel performed well in both the 14 to 17 Patterns and Sparring divisions starting well in the Patterns category but a mistake during her Pattern meant she failed to make it into the medal rounds.  In the Sparring she faced 8 other competitors but was eliminated in the quarter-finals ending her campaign early.

Looking forward now to the 2025 competition season which begins with the UKTA English Open in March.