NORTH CAROLINA—Team St. Maarten won seven gold medals, nine silver medals and one bronze medal at the Global Open Taekwondo Festival in the United States. Also honoured were the team’s Grandmaster Theo Liu and team physical Therapist Paulien Vuijst.
The Athletes from the King Yen Taekwondo School under the direction of Grandmaster Liu winning two gold each were Audrey Van der Riet, forms and breaking; Shekinah Carbon, breaking and sparring; and Rique-Lee Rosalia – Liu, sparring and breaking. Winning one gold was Mrs. Vuijst in forms.
Vuijst also won three silver medals taking one in forms, sparring and breaking. She also earned a bronze medal in breaking. Mrs. Van der Riet also won a silver medal in sparring and Sonny Wongsonadi earned silver in forms.
Carbon grabbed a silver in forms and two more silvers in breaking. Rosalia – Liu had one silver in forms.
Grandmaster Liu and Vuijst received certificates of leadership for their support and dedication to the growth of Taekwondo from the Black Belt World.
Nearly 600 athletes representing all 50 United States plus Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Canada, South Korea and Team St. Maarten competed at the Global Open.
“The North Carolina Global Open is unique in that it is really two competitions. There was the normal sparring event plus Hanmadang,” explained the grandmaster.
Hanmadang means festival. Taekwondo hanmadangs are sponsored by the Kukkiwon in Korea to highlight the beauty and skill of the forms, series of punches, kicks and blocks used to teach students how to link together individual movements learned in training. Hanmadang competition includes both individual and team forms and both traditional and creative forms.
“The vast majority of Taekwondo students train for confidence, discipline, respect, and personal improvement. Many do not enjoy sparring because of the combat nature,” said Grandmaster Liu. “That is why Hanmadang provides an excellent avenue for people to enjoy the sport.”
“Our team consists of five selected athletes,” said Liu. “This time we focused more on adults in International competition.” Team St. Maarten featured three adults on this trip. Carbon is a red belt age 14 and Rosalia-Lie age seven is a white belt.
“We always strive to be in the front line of Taekwondo on St Maarten,” said Liu. “With the introduction of the Hammadang we hope to have more adults will participate and despite aging have a better health status.”
Tournaments are very important for individual growth explained Liu. “Our excellent international tournament accomplishments in the past years have earned dozens of invitations for the St. Maarten team.”
The Global Open attracted some of the top Grandmasters. Grandmaster Jun Lee 9th Dan Black Belt organized the competition.
Grandmaster Nelson Brizeula, 8th Dan Black Belt, was a referee at 2012 London Olympic Games, and is known as founding father of Taekwondo in Costa Rica and Central America.
Grandmaster Namkung Myong Mayes is the highest ranked black belt woman in the world. She was a top fighter for Korea in the 1960s and 70s.
Grandmaster Sang Chul Lee: He was undefeated Taekwondo fighter in the early 70s in Korea and 10 times US National Team Coach and 1988 Olympic head Coach.
