#40: Iron Taekwondo With Record-Breaking Triumph In Serbian Open
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Competing in the Asteriks Open E2 event and International Cup, Maltese club Iron Taekwondo League secured one of the best international results by a Maltese club to date.
Six club athletes attended the event, one that garnered a record-breaking 1400 registrations from over 24 countries; from Serbia to as far as Oman and Saudi Arabia. A seventh ITL athlete - Alycia Cassar - was due to compete but had to be pulled out due to injury.
On the first day, junior and cadet athletes played their E2 event, a European ranking event. On the second, all athletes, including seniors, played in the 8th Asteriks Cup.
Michela Scerri (junior, F, -42kg) registered a massive performance, having won both her categories at the E2 event and the Asteriks Cup. In the first event, she triumphed over three athletes, each with a score of 2:0.
She did not lose a single round.
Facing the same athletes on the second day, all highly ranked in their respective countries and internationally, she reeled in her second gold medal for the weekend.
The medal haul didn’t stop there.
Jean Schembri (cadet, M, -37kg) blitzed through three fights during the Asteriks Cup, until he lost his hard-fought encounter against Moldova in the quarter-final. Nevertheless, his efforts earned him a bronze medal.
A senior-division medal, silver, also came by way of debutant Ashik Sunil, who lost to Romania in the final of his respective -80kg category. Sunil (26) has been registered with the club since last March.
The team’s achievements left the total medal haul for the weekend to be:
Two golds
One silver
One bronze
Other athletes attended the event, each marking great performances in their own right.
Fergeson Galea (junior, M, -55kg) registered a convincing win against Greece before losing in the Quarter Final against the first-ranked athlete of the division, from Slovenia. Also, Brayden Micallef (cadet, M, -45kg) won against his Romanian opponent, registering two-point gaps, before also losing against the first-ranked athlete of that division (from Greece).
ITL placed 11th from 100 teams in the event
Robin Zammit, who played in the cadet, M, -41kg, lost in the opening round against his Bulgarian opponent in the E2 event. The opponent would later win the entire category.
Our successful showing during this event secured an 11th-placed team finish for ITL, among all 100 teams in the E2 event (please note, the E2 event fielded only 4 club athletes).
The results, if not individual then also on a team level, mean that ITL has recorded a record-breaking performance this time round at the Asteriks games, which were held in Nis, Serbia.
The team was led by Gianluca Barbara and Ditmir Vodinaj. Vodinaj is Malta’s national coach as well as an ITL coach.
The MTA would like to congratulate all members of this team who made this success possible. We hope to see more news like this in the months to come!
