The 3rd ITF World Cup was held in the beautiful town Riva del Garda, in North Italy. Over 1200 competitors from all over the world arrived on the 15th October to compete in what was to be the biggest ITF competition ever held. The competition ran for 4 days from 16th to 19th October. Unlike the World Championship, the World Cup is open to blue belts and above and allows clubs and national associations to enter an unlimited number of competitors. The ITF World Championship, on the other hand, only allows each country to enter their top black belt competitor for each event.
TKD Impact entered 17 competitors coached by Master Donato Nardizzi 8th degree: Black belts - Elena Shutova, Andrew Price, Ed Harradine, Victor Regis, Callum Buckley, Shekeb Neda, Aygun Allahverdi, Marek Pedziwiatr, Red/Blue Belts - Jason Ogden, Marlie Regis, Jennifer Pena, Katerina Avramides, Callum Clark, Sarah Makumbi, Farouk Khan, Connor Gridley, Tremayne Wilson.
Most of the patterns were held on day 1. Katerina and Jennifer performed great patterns and had a realistic chance of winning medals in the Blue/Red belt female 18-35yrs division but it wasn't to be. Jennifer got close and reached the quarter finals, but then went out to the eventual winner Helen Caley from New Zealand. The only patterns medal for TKD Impact was the silver medal won by Victor Regis in the Blue/Red belt over 46 yrs category.
Day 2 was a much more successful day for TKD Impact. An outstanding performance by Jenifer Pena in the Blue/Red belt -52kg 18-35yrs Sparring event earned her a well deserved gold medal. Jennifer did everything right as she went up against some tough opposition. She beat Man Lai Shan from Hong Kong in the first round and Kim Lamprazis from Sweden in the quarter final. After winning an all England semi final against Holly Ware she was in the final against Gabriela Offman from Poland. Gabriela was a difficult opponent to score against with her superb front leg side kicks keeping her other opponents away. But Jennifer managed to break her defence with great footwork and once ahead in points Jennifer displayed great movement around the ring and made it difficult for Gabriela to catch her.
Victor Regis earned himself another silver medal in the Black belt +78kg Sparring event. Despite having a hip injury he managed to reach the final with ease. His superior timing and speed of his punches were just too much for his opponents. He eventually lost to Italy’s Daniele Luzzi in a well contested final.
Jason Ogden made it 2 golds for TKD Impact in the Blue/Red belt +78kg 36-45yrs Sparring event. He beat Edi Da Silva from Switzerland. Not content with just a gold medal Jason went on to win a silver and a bronze later in the day to have a full set of medals. He won the silver medal in the flying high kick event. The event went to 2 tie breakers before Jason eventually lost out to Gerry Mooney from Ireland. In the flying side kick event only 3 competitors including Jason managed to clear the hurdle in the 1st round. He failed to clear the hurdle in the tie breaker and had to settle for the bronze medal.
Callum Clark was unlucky in the 12-14yrs Blue/Red belt +60kg Sparring event. He lost the first round to Konstantin Podorogniy from Ukraine. Callum seemed to do enough to secure a win. He even caught his opponent with a superb turning kick to the face which should have given him 3 points. The decision went against him much to the dismay of his supporters. Even the centre referee looked surprised at the result. Callum later made up for the disappointment by winning the silver medal in the flying high kick event. The event went to 2 tie breakers before he lost out to Karl Hynes from Ireland.
Day 3 and 4 didn't bring any more medals for TKD Impact but there were some good performances from Andrew Price, Elena Shutova and Connor Gridley. Andrew had a tough draw in the Black belt 15-18yrs +70kg Sparring event. It was almost an identical to the draw he had in the European Championship in Poland earlier this year. He had a Greek opponent in the first round which he won convincingly. But in the second round he was up against the European junior champion Radoslaw Zazulak from Poland. Andrew who is still only 16 yrs put up a good fight as he did in the European championship but Radoslaw, who is already 18 yrs, was too strong for him. Elena reached the quarter finals in the Black belt -52kg sparring category. She comfortably won the first two rounds and went up against Pauliina Heiskanen from Finland in the quarter final. Elena was ahead for most of the bout but a side kick by Paulina gave her 2 points to edge ahead. It was a good performance by Elena considering that she didn't have long to get back into full fitness after recovering from a knee operation. Connor fought well in the 12-14yrs -52kg sparring event. He lost to Maciej Kowalik from Poland although it looked like Connor was dominating the fight most of the time.
Overall, it was a successful competition for TKD Impact winning 2 Golds, 4 Silvers and and a Bronze medal to put them 13th in the overall medal table. Their tally helped England to be placed 5th overall in the national standings.
