Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy

ago and won a Gold and Silver medal, but this time he was there for his students to see if they could do
similar.

And what a result they got: 14 of the Rayners Lane students competed, plus Mr Anslow and between
them they amassed an amazing 26 medals, 8 of which were gold's! Making Rayners Lane Taekwon-do
Academy home of 7 World Champions and numerous World silver and bronze medallists.

Unlike many World Championships, this event is open to everyone; of any association and any style… you
only have to attend!

Though it was thought by most that the first days events was overly ambitious (last year a similar amount
of events were over the first 2 days), the competition started.

Unfortunately, the super smooth running of the 2000 World Championships were not to take effect this time, as
the venue had changed and the seating arrangements, changing areas, warm-up areas plus the 10 arenas
themselves all seemed a little disjointed. This all took its toll on the event at the start, so we had no ceremony
like last time the event started.

Despite the chaotic start the event started to flow with the hyung/patterns section first, starting with the
youngsters. Abhijay Sood, our youngest member competing was up straight away and despite a good
performance of Dan-Gun tul, didn't managed to grab a medal. The children's divisions were massive however.

The second of the Academies students to compete was Priya Shah. Priya outdone herself with a fine patterns
performance to take the first medal for the Academy in the Girls patterns for her grade, Priya scooped a bronze.

The next medal came from Gillian Nightingale, at only her second ever competition and only a 9th kup, she
claimed the silver in the ladies adult junior grade patterns division. Following Gill's victory close by was
student Justin Goh, whom in a large and highly contested Red/Brown belt patterns division, gave a fine
performance of Hwa-Rang to claim another silver medal for the Academy. Whilst this was going on, on the
other side of the arena, two of the academies female competitors had made it all the way through to the
finals as well, in the ladies blue/purple belt patterns, only to get equal scores. With a gold and silver medal
at stake, both Lyndsey Sainsbury and Sonal Lakhman had to perform a pattern one grade down, in order
to try and separate them, but again they received equal scores. In a final attempt to separate them, they
were made to perform Joong-Gun tul, side by side, with the judges ordered to pick one or the other
instead of scoring them. Sonal just managed to pip Lyndsey and claimed the gold, in what was an
intriguing and dramatic final.

Sushi Punj and Dev Patel both competed in the Junior Red/Brown belt patterns and despite some good
performances (as you can see from the pictures), were unlucky to place in what was probably the biggest
division of the event. Meanwhile, Vijay Sood came 4th in his division for patterns, just missing out on a
medal.

There were some fine performances by all competitors in the Black belt patterns divisions but as soon as
this was over, it was onto the Points Sparring sections. This was a difficult section for all, as any technique
only scored a single point, making high kicks and jumping techniques pretty much redundant.

Again our youngster Abhijay was up first on ring 2 against some fearsome little competitors. He took some
pretty hard blows and sadly didn't place, but gave a fine account of himself none-the-less. Whilst this was
going on other Academy students were called up for points sparring. Again Gillian Nightingale gave a great
performance, this time taking it to the gold medal spot. Kate Barry took silver in her points sparring division,
whilst Vijay Sood also gained silver in the Veterans division.

Also in Points Sparring, Sonal Lakhman fought her way to a bronze medal, as did Hershel Shah, who
unfortunately met fellow Academy student Sharad Nakarja on his way and beat him! Though Sharad had
already won a few fights himself.

Dev Patel and Sushil Punj fought some good fights in the junior brown/red and black belt division, again,
meeting just before the semi-finals with Dev going on to face a good black belt and losing a very close and
tough fight unfortunately by a couple of points in extra time and having to settle for bronze. Colin Avis also
fought bravely to gain a bronze himself in a very technically fought division.

Though this day was to incorporate Continuous Sparring and destruction, the time had escaped everyone, so it was all put back to day 2.

Day 2 kicked off straight away with the Continuous sparring divisions, some hard fought bouts ensued.
Though this was billed as a semi contact event, nearly all divisions were hard to full contact!
Never-the-less, the Academies students fought superbly. Lyndsey Sainsbury picked up a gold in this
division after some tough bouts, with fellow female student Kate Barry collecting a bronze for her
performance.

Colin Avis had many great fights to get him through to the finals in the adult blue belts, which despite
only getting the silver, he fought so hard his fellow finalist actually threw up! Across the arena, Parvez
Sultan was fighting in the men's red/brown belt mixed light heavy and heavy weight division. Parvez took
on all comers with relish, fighting kick boxers and fellow Taekwon-do men all the way to the finals to
claim the gold. Meanwhile Mr Anslow fought in the black belt welter weight divisions, and despite
some weird round keeping that gave byes each round (except to Mr Anslow unfortunately), got a bronze,
even though he won as many fights and fought more than the silver medallist! It must be said however,
that out of all the black belt divisions, which were very highly contested, with some tough competitors,
the welter weight division saw the most technical fighting, while other divisions were straight on brawls!

This concluded the continuous sparring of the event and the destruction sections started. A few of the
Academies students enter these sections, with Justin Goh making his mark by performing a jump
reverse turning kick over fellow student Colin Avis's head to break a thick wood board in the Technical
Destruction division. The judges were impressed that he did it with Colin facing him than actually turned
around, which makes the technique slightly harder! Justin also won a Bronze in the Power destruction.
Instructor Mr Anslow was unfortunate to be up first again in the 3rd dan Power destruction division. In
these types of divisions you have no second chance to equal a fellow competitor's break, so he went up
and easily broke 3 boards with a standing back kick (wishing after he had tried 4). A few other competitors
also broke 3 boards with stepping kicks and one with a great knife hand. Unfortunately, one of the heavier
competitors manages a stepping kick through four boards, leaving Mr Anslow to contest silver and
bronze from about 3 other competitors. It was a good section, 2 of the 3 remaining managed 3 boards
again, but on the 3rd time on opposite legs, unfortunately the other competitors did better, leaving Mr
Anslow with the bronze.

The event concluded with the team divisions, Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy had only teams in the
Colour Belt Adults Male and female sparring sections. The Girls did well and won the gold, whilst the boys
faced off AIMAA Scotland and after some tough bouts had to settle for Silvers. For Rayners Lane students,
the days events concluded with Master Phillip Ameris arranging for the Rayners Lane Angels (the ladies)
having a team fight with the gracious AIMAA Scotland men's team, much to the joy of those watching.

Despite some issues with certain things, over heavy contact, organisation etc., all competitors, from all
schools should be very proud of their results in what was a very tough World Championships.

The final tally of the medals for Rayners Lane Students was 26 medals, which included 8 gold's, 9 silvers
and 8 Bronzes. This means Gillian Nightingale, Parvez Sultan, Justin Goh and Kate Barry are officially World
Champions and Lyndsey Sainsbury and Sonal Lakhman Double World Champions .

With Vijay Sood, Colin Avis, Priya Shah, Hershal Shah, Dev Patel and Mr Anslow either Silver
or Bronze world medallists.

Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy would like to thank Janet and Krishan Singhal, Indra
Punj, Anita Patel, Sandeep and Savinay Sood and Fintan Murphy for their support and help
during what was a great weekend. Mr Anslow would also like to relay his thanks to Miss
Quintella Walsh AIMAA Secretary for Ireland for her help before and during the event.

After the event, Mr Anslow spoke of how proud he was of his student's achievements,
equal or better than that of many of the National Squads at the event. When asked what he
will remember most about the event, he spoke of his students achievements, meeting
fellow International Alliance of Martial Art School instructors and students, and Miss
Quintella Walsh stepping forward whilst calling out his sparring divisions names to
personally say 'nice to meet you' - which he really appreciated and joked it made him feel
like a superstar for 10 seconds!