National taekwon-do triumphs for Perse martial artists

Perse martial artists were amongst the medals at the All England Taekwon-do Association Championships.

Seven Perse students made it to the podium while representing Cambridge Taekwon-do at the national tournament in Haywards Heath.

Rebecca (Year 11) and Alysha (Lower Sixth) staged excellent performances to claim gold and silver respectively in the girls’ 15-17 first degree black belt patterns competition, which sees participants perform a set sequence of moves in front of a panel of judges.

There was also a bronze for Rebecca in the special technique category, in which competitors produce a series of jumping kicks to hit targets at different heights.

Lanxi (Year 8) won gold in special technique (girls’ 12-14 white/yellow/green belt, over 155cm category) and silver in patterns (girls’ 12-14 green belt category).

William (Year 8) collected silver in both patterns and special technique in the boys’ 12-14 category, as well as bronze in sparring in the age group U42kg section, while Perse Prep pupil Xixi (Year 6) earned silver success in the girls’ 9-11 green to blue tag U36kg sparring competition.

Anika (Year 9) and Sophia (Year 8) won bronzes in patterns (girls’ 12-14 blue belt to red tag section) and sparring (girls’ 12-14 U42kg green/blue belt category) respectively.