Heavy snow can’t halt De Silva Taekwon-do Interclub Championship
11 December 2017Exclusive UK Seminar with “The Dragon” Stephen Tapilatu
9 March 2018De Silva Taekwon-do athlete Shane O’Rourke was knocked out at the semi-final stage of the Open Dutch Championships 2018. Competing in a category boasting a number of world and European champions, Shane fought beautifully to get to the last four of the first major tournament of the year.
However, he lost his semi-final to the eventual winner, and followed it up with another defeat in the third-place match, meaning his missed out on a medal this time. Reaching the semi-final of a major tournament featuring over 600 competitors from world championship-winning countries – including Ukraine, Slovenia, Ireland and Italy – is still a great achievement for Shaun, one of two De Silva Taekwon-do athletes who travelled to Helmond with coach Johann De Silva to take part in the tournament.
Archie Morrell also performed creditably, coming through two tough fights to reach the quarter-finals. Like Shane, he lost to the eventual winner.
The Open Dutch Championships has been a very successful tournament for De Silva Taekwon-do – Hannah ‘Hype’ Whittaker won gold in 2015, while, as already mentioned, Shane repeated the feat in 2016. However, despite their best efforts, Shane and Archie couldn’t medal this time.
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