Several of our Inspires athletes made the long trip to Trelleborg for the 2012 Swedish Open in early February and I was very pleased to hear that all the hard work that the athletes have put in with their coaches and on our Inspires workshops is really paying dividends.

Saturday was opened with Owen Turner on first game in the first of the 2 categories he was competing in and at Cadet advanced -33kg Owen faced Vladimir Gristchenko from Russia. Owen took an early lead but the stronger and older Russian woke up in round 2 to take the game 7-4.

Tim Needham and Finlay Benton were both competing in Cadet Advanced -37kg and were both in great form. Tim beat Kostov from Bulgaria first round and then beat Barthochowski from Poland 2-1 to secure his place in the final. Finlay beat Bakr of Sweden 2-0, Bulgaria by disqualification and Vasileious from Germany on golden point to meet Tim in the all Ultimate Taekwondo final. Tim took the gold and Finlay the silver 4-0 in a great game.

Alex Needham was on next -51kg Junior Male Advanced. He comfortably beat Mende from Germany 10-4 finishing the match was a devastating reverse turning kick. He was unlucky with the draw in round 2 meeting the eventual gold medallist Salazar Dragustovis from Mexico. Alex played extremely well, probably his best performance to date, with the final score ending 7-4.

Jack Lockwood was also competing in this high level group. Jack was competing in the Junior and Cadet divisions. He outclassed Remo from Sweden 13-0 first round where he met his rival Koca from Germany in the quarter finals. These two met in the quarter finals of the French Open so tactics played a huge part in this game. Jack played a fantastic game and it finished 3-2. Koca was Junior European Champion last year so a great performance from Jack.

Aneila Afsar playing Cadet and Junior had a tough draw in her Junior -46kg division. She drew the very experienced Wongpattenakit from Thailand in the first round. Aneila was beaten and the Thai girl went on to take the gold without conceding a point throughout the tournament; better luck next time Aneila!

Owen Turner was then back on court in his actual category 9 -11 years -33kg. His first opponent was Israel player Nechemia in the semis beating him 6-4 and facing another Israeili player Segal in the final. Following on from his bronze last year Owen took the gold this year winning the final 13-6. Current British Champion Owen had a great day.

Tyler Barwell was unlucky – playing double categories Cadet and Minors but having to play both categories at the same time. His first game was in cadet against Taha from Sweden. Taha was awkward and strong and took the fight 1-0, however, Tyler found his form in his own category -32kg aged 9-11. He met Danish player Linds Renson in the first round. Renson is a talented and technical player so Tyler had to stick to his game plan throughout to win the game 2-0. He then beat Anderson from Denmark in the semi finals and met Moranduzzo from Belgium in the final. Moranduzzo was the gold medallist last year so it was always going to be a tough game. Tyler played well and took the gold medal winning the final 6-4.

Jack Lockwood put in great performances in cadet -53kg to take the silver medal. He demolished Kyriakou from Cyprus in the first round 12-2 and Arnason from Israel 7-0 to put him in the final. Jack had a close game with Elammar from Germany but had to settle for the Silver medal on this occasion.

Aneila Afsar put in a good performance -47kg cadet to take the silver. She defeated Germany then Sweden and met Zederfeldt from Sweden in the final.

Jordan Lill was fantastic -63 junior male. He met the very experienced Nicolas Kuss from Germany in the first round. Jordan played extremely well and it finished 7-7 before going to golden point. Jordan lost the golden point but had put in a great performance.

There were other excellent performances from Katie Bradley who beat Germany in her first match, and then lost to the eventual Silver winner from Norway.

Elise Johnson took the silver medal in her first major International Championsips -37kg minors female, she beat Russian Fomina on golden point to put her in the final against another Russian Khimelnitckaia. Ellie played hard but was beaten 8-1 by the much taller and much more experienced Russian player. A great start to your international career Ellie!

Asia Bailey, in her first ever A Class match, was drawn against Beth Worthington, who is the current European Bronze Medallist. Asia’s high kicking was very effective and she took the match 6-3. Beth is favourite to be selected for the forthcoming Junior World Championships in Egypt – this result gives the selectors something to think about! It was a very tough category and in her quarter final game Asia had to face the British Open winner Katrin Koppe from Germany. It was a very close game with the girls scoring at the same time with strong body shots. Asia’s high kicks missed by inches and the game ended up going to the German 4-2 but still a great first A Class tournament for Asia.

Jordyn Smith was moved up into the -30kg category despite only weighing 26kg! She was in a straight final with Albina Tukhvatulinna from Russia. Jordyn gave a stunning display which drew praise from watching coaches, spectators and officials. The Russian girl threw everything at Jordyn but was unable to connect as Jordyn’s footwork and counter attacks were superb. Jordyn scored with both feet, back kicks and spins and ran out a 13-1 point gold medallist. Still only 10 years old Jordyn has now taken gold medals in Luxembourg, Germany and Sweden.

Vivienne Wilkes was also in action with only 3 girls in her group. Her first match was against Ukraine and she scored a comfortable victory winning 6-2! Then in the final she had to face her team-mate Josie and Vivienne is the first to admit that it's not nice to fight your team mate, however, she opproached the match with true professionalism and securted a 2-0 victory to claim another GOLD medal for Brithish athletes.

These are really encouraging results guys and I'm so proud of you all - keep those stories coming in via the "contact" page and I'll make sure your news is shared via this website!

Sarah x

Thanks to www.taekwondoscotland.org and Ultimate Taekwondo.