TAEKWONDO athletes from across Oceania have been showing off their skills in Rotorua’s backyard—with the Taekwondo New Zealand Open staged in the city over the weekend.
TAEKWONDO athletes from across Oceania have been showing off their skills in Rotorua's backyard-with the Taekwondo New Zealand Open staged in the city.
About 400 athletes competed at the Energy Events Centre over the weekend, flying in from Australia, Tonga and New Caledonia to take on New Zealand's best fighters.Rotorua's Ariana Mitchell- Witehira, 16, was competing and said she really enjoyed having the huge tournament in her hometown.
"It's been good. I even won a gold medal in my division and it was pretty cool seeing everyone fight," she said. Ariana, who attends John Paul College, earned her black belt in taekwondo last year. She said she first got into the sport about three and a half years ago after her mum signed her up for a class at Rotorua's Han Lee Taekwondo club.
"My mum was just like you should do this, it is really cool. I think she used to do it and she got me and my younger brothers into it," Ariana said. "I like it because it's pretty good exercise and you meet heaps of good friends."
Ariana won a gold medal in the poomsae class which is a series of defence and attack motions done individually on the mat. The other main class on display at the New Zealand Open was sparring between two fighters.
Taekwondo is anOlympic event and Ariana said she would like to see how far she can go in the sport in the future.
"I will just keep going and see how high I can get."
Rotorua's Jaesang Lee was the driving force behind bringing the Taekwondo New Zealand Open to the city. The event director said he would like to host other big taekwondo events here in the future. Both Jaesang and his father, grand master Han Lee, are instructors at the Han Lee Taekwondo club. Han Lee is one of only two eighth-dan black belts in New Zealand.
