Shane O’Rourke reaches Open Dutch Championships semi-final

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.

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