On the 29th of May 2010, A.I.M.A.A Scotland squad members descended into the beautiful banqueting hall within the Moran hotel in Dublin, to take part in the TAI International Championships.  The TAI event brings together many Taekwondo associations from all over Europe, in the name of friendships and martial arts. This year had an additional event added, which was the International Team Challenge! The teams entered where the TAGB, A.I.M.A.A, and the TAI. This team challenge was an excellent end to the days events and was truly inspiring to watch!

The proceedings of the day kicked off with all pattern divisions. Our first Junior Black Belts where quickly on the floor undertaking patterns in some very big divisions, as was our adults, such as John Kirkwood and Lisa Aitken! Mr Kirkwood had sustained a foot injury earlier on in the year, however he managed to compete in the Adult Black Belt division, and although he had this and was in pain he went on to win Gold! After this event Mr Kirkwood retired from the competition, due to his injury, but hopes to have it better for the Nationals in September!  Miss Lisa Aitken performed and executed her pattern with precision and power in her division, but was not placed this time, although she did an outstanding job!

The Black Belt sparring took place after the patterns, and there was some excellent fighting staged within the centre ring! Mr Daniel Farrell who was representing Master Darcy and A.I.M.A.A Ireland, and was just unbelievable to watch! Bout after Bout he won! beating many taekwondo practitioners! The final was a very hard and furious fight between Daniel and the TAGB competitor. Daniel delivered blow after blow onto his opponent and gave everyone watching a fantastic fight to watch! Although Daniel had a very bad referee to contend with he went on to win the Silver in this division, but in everyone's eyes had clearly won the Gold!

Our Junior student Kirsty Gough executed her pattern with immense power and technique and took Gold in the Junior Black belt division, whilst her accomplice Mark Russell took Silver. As soon as the pattern division was over we quickly stepped up into the cont-sparring divisions.  Whilst we had some jnr divisions taking part at the end of the hall, we had our adults compete at the top end!

Our first lady competitor to take to the floor was Mrs Cecilia Gough, who competed in the ladies 35+ point sparring division.  Cecilia had some very hard fights, but battled through each bout to take Gold! As a true ambassador for A.I.M.A.A Scotland, she fights with power and heart, and never gives up! She quickly went onto her Cont-sparring divisions, which was a hard division, due to the amount taking part and that her challengers where very younger in age!  Cecilia had quite a few bouts and took Bronze in the division. Much to the delight of the many A.I.M.A.A members watching her!

Next up was Lisa Aitken, who had some hard and fast bouts against some TAI and TAGB competitors. Lisa done a fantastic job in her bouts and fought with great speed and technique, and was placed 3rd in this division taking the bronze medal, which we where all ecstatic about!

At this point within the competition, our junior competitors had been competing in the team patterns. The team consisted of Kirsty Gough, Mark Russell and Kara Gough. All three performed and executed their pattern with precision, timing and technique, taking GOLD in this division. Within the sparring divisions, our junior members kicked some serious butt! Mark Russell, Kirsty Gough both took Gold in their divisions, whilst Kara Gough took Silver in her division. Our Tammy Sutherland had a big divisions in sparring and took some serious blows! However, she fought back and took the Bronze, whilst her fellow squad member Scott Ritchie from Lesmahagow took Bronze in his division. Scott won his first bout, however ended up in the semi-final with a very strong fighter from the TAI.

Our last squad member to fight was Ryan Kirkwood. Ryan fought very hard and fast within the men's red to black division and won his two first bouts to reach the final! The final bout was 2 x 1.5 min rounds and some serious clashes where seen by everyone watching! However, Ryan persevered and won, taking Gold for Scotland!

The TAI event finished just before 4pm, with the International Team Challenge being staged at 4.30pm. This was the highlight of everyone's day to see these teams compete against each other! The team from A.I.M.A.A consisted of students and Instructors from Scotland and Ireland. Our very own Mark Russell who is only 76kg was competing against the 80+kg opponent. His opponent was not only heavier but much older, since Mark is only 16 years old! Mr John Kirkwood could not compete in the team due to injury and gutted not to be art of the team! 

The team event kicked off with A.I.M.A.A fighting the TAI.  The first three light weight divisions fighting off, before reverting back to a heavy weight divisions and then back to a light weight division.  In all we had Eric Nolan, Hassan Sinanovic and Paul, who competed first! then this was followed by Sean Pierce and Daniel Farrell. We lost the first fight, drew the 2nd, lost the third and won the 4th! Our second last fight resulted in another win which meant we now tied with the TAI.

Everyone's focused on the last fight of this match, as Mark Russell took to the floor clearly against an opponent who was far heavier and at least over 26 years of age! Everyone was going crazy shouting for Mark, as he out dodged, out kicked and out classed his opponent! These last 2x 1.5 minute rounds felt as if the went on forever, and it was just pure class to watch this young fighter fight!! Master Kirkwood and Master Darcy were overjoyed when the judges signalled Mark's victory as was the full A.I.M.A.A Team, without this win, A.I.M.A.A would not have made the final.

The final match was between a selected A.I.M.A.A team and the TAGB! Everyone fought well, and some serious bouts was witnessed, however the fighter of this match off was Daniel Farrell, who had the whole room chanting his name! It was a fantastic team challenge with a fantastic result for A.I.M.A.A when we took Silver.  We all look forward to next year and hopefully another team challenge when A.I.M.A.A can once again show we are a force to be reckoned with!!

Master Kirkwood and Mrs Kirkwood would like to thank our squad of students who competed gallantly at the TAI event! it was an honour to watch you all compete and we are very proud of each one of you!  We would also like to thank and commend the parents and students who travelled over to watch and support the troops! It was wonderful to have you all at their side and we know the squad are eternally grateful for your support.

We would like to thank the following Instructors and students who picked us all up and returned us to the airport on the Sunday! A huge thank you to Mr Gerry Long, Mary Lunn, Daniel Farrell, Hassan Sinanovic, Katie Noonan, Joe Darcy, Amy Driscoll and to everyone else who helped the squad from Scotland over the weekend. We love coming over to our second family in Ireland and its an honour to have you all as our friends.

Lastly a huge thank you to Master White and the TAI for staging another fantastic event, within a great venue! Also, a huge thank you to our friend Master John Darcy, who spent the entire weekend with Master Kirkwood, Mrs Kirkwood and the squad from Scotland. It was an honour to be in great company and also be these championships!

CLICK HERE FOR THE TAI INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GALLERY

AIMAA SCOTLAND YOU TUBE VIDEO CHANNEL
CECILIA GOUGH TAI CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010	KIRSTY GOUGH TAI CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010	SCOTT RITCHIE TAI CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010	RYAN KIRKWOOD TAI CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010

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