Five British athletes from the British Taekwondo Sport Performance Department travelled to Fujairah, UAE this week to compete in the 7th World Taekwondo Cadet Championships.
The five-day event was a spectacle of the brightest young talent from across the world all competing on the biggest stage, with over 800 athletes from more than 80 countries taking part across the week.
The competition provides the perfect platform for the next generation to prove their talent, with Nyah Cannon, Gabby Pettigrew, Luis Harrison, Josh Sherratt and Henry Hunter all flying over to fly the flag for the country.
While there were no medals for the British team this time around, the experience will have proved valuable in their journeys towards the top of the sport, with plenty of memories made while travelling with the squad.
The action got underway on Saturday 10th May, with Sherratt (-37kg) and Pettigrew (-29kg) the first two to compete.
Sherratt came flying out the blocks in his opening round match against Konstantinos Pappas of Greece, with a dominant 2-0 victory seeing his opponent fail to register a single point across the two bouts, as the Brit’s power and timing proved a step above.
A showdown against Brazil’s Menon followed in the Round of 32, where Josh had to dig deep to come from behind to seal his passage through, with the first bout ending 4-2 to his opponent.
Trailing 5-3 in the second bout with just 25 seconds remaining, the threat of elimination was looming large, but a fantastic front kick, hook kick combo saw the tide turn in his favour in the dying seconds, with the 15-8 scoreline setting up a final bout decider.
A closely fought start to the third bout saw Josh take a 3-0 lead as he went on the offensive from the start, before seeing his lead reduced to just a single point. But a mature, focused performance from the Brit saw his tactics work perfectly as his opponent tried to cut the deficit, with a series of expertly timed responses seeing him wrap up the third 17-6.
Tunisia’s Iyed Alaaoui was next up for the Round of 16 encounter, and the two got off to a cagey start in the afternoon session, as they sized each other up in the early interactions on the mat.
The Tunisian profited from his added height and reach to earn eight points off kicks to the body as the bout continued, which contributed to a 10-1 scoreline in the first encounter, before Josh produced yet more heroics in the second bout to take it right down to the wire.
Facing a 6-2 deficit with half of the time already elapsed, another late rally saw Josh overpower his opponent in the dying stages to level the scores, only to be denied by a late video replay decision which handed his opponent the victory.
Gabby also started her competition with a Greek opponent in Ilektra Pi Tserentzoulia, and like Josh, she too won her opening encounter 2-0, with precise attacks rewarded in the first bout between the pair, as three body shots helped her claim a 6-3 success.
Both competitors raised the tempo at the start of the second round, but once again it was Gabby’s measured attacks that kept her Greek adversary at bay, before an expertly timed head shot helped her canter to a 12-2 win.
Things proved tougher in the next round against Thai athlete Praya Termjit-Aree, with two head shots in quick succession securing a 12-0 win in the first bout.
Those precise attacks from her Round of 64 win were back after the break though, as Gabby raced into a 8-2 lead thanks to some fine timing to her attacks, only for her opponent to power herself back into contention, and take a heart-breaking late win with a headshot in the final five seconds.
It was a similar story on day two of the competition, as Henry Hunter (-33kg) and Nyah Cannon (-33kg) took to the mats for their respective events.
Henry was up against Georgia’s Luka Jalalishvili in the opening round, with the first bout between the two changing when a video replay awarded a headshot in his opponent’s favour, giving him a three-point advantage with a minute left on the clock.
Playing catchup from then on, the young Brit was unable to reduce the deficit, with a 13-6 scoreline followed up by a close second fight, with the scores locked at 4-4 for the entirety of the entirety of the final minute, before Henry was unlucky to miss out on a judges’ call.
As for Nyah, a first round battle with Saudi Arabian athlete Alotai Abdullah was over in a flash, with the Brit showcasing the talent that saw her claim gold at the European Grand Prix Taekwondo Final in Romania last December, with 12-0 and 13-1 wins securing her route to the next round.
The Round of 32 would prove to be as far as she went though, as Serbia’s Nadja Babic proved to be a formidable opponent from start to finish.
A 7-1 score in the first fight was followed by a much tighter affair where the first 60 seconds saw neither player register on the scoreboard, before two late contacts with the body saw Babic proceed to the next round, before ultimately winning silver medal on the World stage.
Luis (-41kg) had to wait until the final day of action to take to the mat, where he faced off against Gabriel Derenov of Moldova.
While Luis was full of attacking intent against his European counterpart, a flurry of early contacts saw the first fight end 16-2 after just 24 seconds, before the second came to a 13-1 result.
While there were no medals to fly home with, every member of the squad can be proud of their efforts in representing Great Britain on the global stage, and they did us all proud throughout a brilliant week of action in Fujairah.
Do you want to represent your country in the future? Make sure you sign up to British Taekwondo’s Sport Performance Development Days, with the next coming up on June 15th.
Click here to find out more about the session at the National Taekwondo Centre, Manchester.
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