Heavy snow can’t halt De Silva Taekwon-do Interclub Championship
8 August 2025Exclusive UK Seminar with “The Dragon” Stephen Tapilatu
8 August 2025
De Silva Taekwon-do students performed well at the Open Dutch Championships
De Silva Taekwon-do athlete Shane O’Rourke was knocked out at the semi-final stage of the Open Dutch Championships 2018. Competing in a category boasting a number of world and European champions, Shane fought beautifully to get to the last four of the first major tournament of the year.
However, he lost his semi-final to the eventual winner, and followed it up with another defeat in the third-place match, meaning his missed out on a medal this time. Reaching the semi-final of a major tournament featuring over 600 competitors from world championship-winning countries – including Ukraine, Slovenia, Ireland and Italy – is still a great achievement for Shaun, one of two De Silva Taekwon-do athletes who travelled to Helmond with coach Johann De Silva to take part in the tournament.
Archie Morrell also performed creditably, coming through two tough fights to reach the quarter-finals. Like Shane, he lost to the eventual winner.
The Open Dutch Championships has been a very successful tournament for De Silva Taekwon-do – Hannah ‘Hype’ Whittaker won gold in 2015, while, as already mentioned, Shane repeated the feat in 2016. However, despite their best efforts, Shane and Archie couldn’t medal this time.
Want to train with champions? Book a free trial lesson with De Silva Taekwon-do
