Philippine Asian News Today Vol 19 No 18 | Page 28
SPORTS
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PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY September 16 - 30, 2017
BC Taekwon-Do jins Compete at the Oval
2017 ITF of BC Pro-
vincial Taekwon-do Champi-
onships
RICHMOND,
BC
– On September 23, 2017,
ITF Taekwon-do practitioners
from all over British Columbia
will come to visit the beauti-
ful lower mainland in order
to participate at the 2017 ITF
of BC Provincial Taekwon-Do
Championships. This year’s
event was held at the majestic
Richmond Olympic Oval in
Richmond, BC and is hosted
by the Mr. Darius Andaya, 5th
degree International Instruc-
tor and Chief Instructor of
DSA Taekwon-do, based in
Burnaby.
Taekwon-Do students
from all ages and all level of
skills vied for gold in various
events such as Sparring, Pat-
terns, Power and Specialty
breaking. Especially exciting
and heartwarming was the
introduction of the Special
Needs Division–a division
specially designed for Tae-
kwon-Do students with physi-
cal and/or mental disabilities.
This division was championed
by Mr. Andaya to promote a
fair playing field for athletes
limited by their conditions,
thereby following General
Choi, founder of Taekwon-
do’s philosophy of teaching
anyone willing to learn.
The day started with
a presentation by Darryl, a
Black Stripe belt showing
his various Taekwon-do skills
including Patterns, Applica-
tions, Fundamental exercises
and Powerbreaking. He also
showed great flexibility by
ending his demo with a full
split. Darryl is a student with
Special Needs, who after 9
years, is about to receive his
Black Belt in Taekwon-do.
“I still clearly recall
another tournament you ran
years ago which had special
needs kids in the opening
ceremony. I don’t remember
the opening ceremonies of
any other TKD tournament
I’ve attended but I’ll always
remember these two. I wish
all TKD tournaments had
opening ceremonies and
themes which raised aware-
ness and support for such
good causes.” from a spec-
tator email after the provin-
cials.
It was a very suc-
cessful competition by all ac-
counts judging by the praises
received after the tournament.
Mr. Andaya would like to
thank all the sponsors ViaS-
port, Bushido and Richmond
Hosting, and most especially
all the Umpires, Officials and
other volunteers who provid-
ed their services for the com-
petition. These people came
to the tournament expecting
nothing in return yet provided
everything they could for the
sport we all love.
DSA Taekwon-do, Mr.
Andaya’s school is at 4600
Imperial St. in Burnaby.
For inquiries or spon-
sorship, please contact Mr.
Andaya at dsataekwondo@
gmail.com or go to their web-
site at Dsataekwondo.com.
(Contact: Darius An-
daya, 604-355-0372 , dsatae-
[email protected])
Nonito Donaire Dominates Ruben Hernandez,
Wins WBC Silver
Returning for the first
time since last November’s
decision loss to Jessie Mag-
daleno, four division world
champion Nonito Donaire
returned to the ring and won
a one-sided ten round unani-
mous decision over Ruben
Garcia Hernandez (22-3-1).
Donaire (38-4, 24
KOs) secured the win with
scores of 100-90, 97-93, 99-
91 to earn the WBC silver
featherweight title.
The contest is the
first for Donaire with new pro-
moter Richard Schaefer of
Ringstar Sports. The veteran
boxer parted ways with long-
time promoter Top Rank and
now wants to focus on win-
ning another world title.
“I boxed very well,
which is something I haven’t
done in a long time. I moved
my legs well and maintained
it throughout the whole fight.
“I’ve always been an
aggressive boxer but this time
i used my jab and
combinations.
I
had the urge to just
brawl and I felt like
I hurt him. But ulti-
mately I did a great
job showing versa-
tility in my game.
“I’ll go look
at this fight and see
what I should have
done to improve.
It’s great to get the
victory and get a
great learning ex-
perience under my
belt.
“It’s a great
pleasure to be part
of the Ringstar
Sports family. I’m
grateful for this
opportunity and I
know there is more
to come. I’m going
to get back in there and keep
showing what I can do.”
RUBEN GARCIA HER-
NANDEZ
“Nonito was very
smooth and moved around
well. I couldn’t get to him be-
cause of that. He adjusted to
everything I did. It was a fair
decision at the end of the
night.
“I thought he was go-
ing to come to brawl but he
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
changed the strategy on me. I
thought I fought hard and I’m
going to work hard to get back
in the ring.”(Boxingscene.
com)