Students from Evolution Martial Arts (Lossiemouth), Inverness Tang Soo Do and DKMA (Forres, Nairn and Hopeman) came together and headed to Wales to compete at the UK Open Invitational Championships held in Cardiff as part of Team Scotland.
The tournament was held at the NIAC Campus, in Cyncoed, Cardiff on the 11th May 2024. Competitors from across the World headed to the venue for what promised to be a spectacular competition. Around 500 people attended the event from Countries as far afield as South Africa, Canada and USA. European countries were also represented with competitors from Holland, Greece and Germany. The home nations England, Wales, Ireland and of course Scotland also took part in the event.
Master John Trudgill hosted the event on behalf of the Traditional Tang Soo Do Federation.
The day started with a traditional line up and introductions, which also included a few Welsh participants being awarded the prestigious ranks of 4th Dan and 5th Dan Master. In attendance were many TSD Masters from around the World, including 9th Dan Grand Master Dominick Giacobbe from USA.
The Competition got under way with the Black Belt divisions, followed by the coloured belts. The finale events of the day were the Masters and Grand Champion events. It was a long and hot day for all but everyone left the event having made new friendships, and happy memories.
Team Scotland did amazingly well and everyone that competed placed in the medal positions for at least one of their categories:
Laura ~ Gold Forms, Bronze Weapons
Myles ~ Gold Forms, Gold Weapons, Bronze Sparring
Sam ~ Silver Forms, Bronze Weapons
Ella ~ Silver Sparring
Layla ~ Gold Forms, Gold Weapons, Gold Sparring
Lily ~ Gold Forms, Gold Weapons
Ronnie ~ Gold Forms
Toby ~ Gold Forms
Scotland Tang Soo Do 