Taekwondo South Africa stands proud
EMMARENTIA - South Africa's taekwondo team has bought home silverware (and goldware) from the International Taekwondo Colour Belt World Cup.
Team South Africa might be a small fish in the big taekwondo pond, but team member Norman Magua (Sixth Dan) says this small fish is growing some big teeth.
Magua, founder of the Magua taekwondo clubs in Emmarentia, Olivedale, Rivonia, Bryanston and Malvern East, is so proud of team South Africa’s performance at the International Taekwondo Federation and Colour Belt World Cup on 27 July in Rome that he wants the world to know about it.
“We’ve never done so well in my 20 years of practising taekwondo; this time by proceeding to the next round and to the quarter finals,” Magua said on 12 September.
“The team also brought silverware home. I’m so proud.”
Grant Fairbrother took gold for patterns and gold for sparring, and Abigail Daniels also palmed in gold for sparring. Sabum Denis Magua and Bo Sabum Hugh Thomson both took silver medals in their large special techniques categories. Peter Stander took bronze for patterns and sparring and Trevor Magagula also grabbed a bronze in sparring.
Magua took the grading for Sixth Dan at the end of the tournament. Students who hold a Fourth to Sixth Dan – a sixth level of the black belt – are considered masters in taekwondo.“This made me the first to attain the Sixth Dan in our country’s organisation, which is a huge honour and a significant step for our country,” Magua said.
“I can say that our guys in some instances were victorious over countries I could only have dreamed we could hold our own with. In the black belt adult divisions, for instance, no one in our organisation has ever proceeded past the first round in a sparring division. We also had, to my knowledge, the fastest victory of the championships when Hugh Thomson, in spectacular form, won over his competitor from the USA by a well-executed legal knock-out in under 10 seconds.”
Magua said South Africa’s small size in comparison to the big players was very significant. “Some countries have over 20 to 40 000 practitioners. To even come close to getting medals in an organisation of this size and magnitude, is a huge deal. It is one of the most respected and largest martial arts organisations in the world and a good performance here holds a huge amount of weight.”
