‘A great day for all’ at taekwondo tourney

Chest shot: Amitel Edwards-Rae lands a kick on Violet Jones in a minor 2 female clash. Pictures by Paul Rickard

Bigger and better is the aim of Tu Mana Toa Combat Systems NZ after a successful rangatahi tournament here on Saturday.

Around 100 fighters took the mats at Ilminster Intermediate gymnasium for the taekwondo event. They included representatives from martial arts clubs in Tauranga, Opōtiki, Rotorua and Tairāwhiti.

Hosts Tu Mana Toa were also privileged to have 2004 Athens Olympian Verina Wihongi at the tournament in her high-performance director role with Taekwondo New Zealand.

The rangatahi involved were aged from five to 17 and of varying levels up to black belt.

Tu Mana Toa is headed by master Lexx Karauria, who is also a Taekwondo NZ national coach.

The club decided to put an emphasis on young people for their first major tournament since the Covid-19 pandemic.

An invitation to take part was extended to non-taekwondo clubs such as Rangataua o Aotearoa, and several of their first-time fighters entered.

Organisers were delighted with how things went, considering the short amount of preparation time.

“We'd love to make this an annual event,” Tu Mana Toa's Louise Karauria said.

She expected that with more planning for next year they could attract 300 to 400 participants.

The club was extremely grateful for generous sponsorship, which — on top of the prizes for the major winners — enabled them to give away spot prizes to promising competitors, officials and coaches.

“It was a great day shared by all.”