A team of 20 black-belt students from Jue’s Taekwon-Do studio in Pleasanton returned from this year’s ITF World Taekwon-Do Championships last month having won a total of 18 medals.
The championships were held in Rome, Italy and included 600 competitors from more than 35 countries.
“Out of the past five World Championships that we’ve participated in, this is the largest group of students from our school to qualify,” said master Gordon Jue, an eighth-degree black belt and owner of Jue’s Taekwon-Do.
Individual medal winners from Pleasanton included:
*Patterns – Gold: Arjun Dhingra, Catherine Jue and David Jue
*Patterns – Bronze: Shawn Kim, Caroline Zha, Vlada Lipkind, Rishika Baral and Sheri Ambriz
*Sparring – Bronze: Nicole Park, Shawn Kim, and Sheri Ambriz
*Power breaking – Bronze: Caroline Zha
*Gold and silver medals went to partners Vlada Lipkind and Shawn Kim on USA Junior Girls Team for specialty breaking (gold), sparring (silver) and power breaking (silver).
In addition, four younger students competed in the “World Kup” after the championships with Rithvik Sunku winning a silver in sparring and Rithik Baral winning a bronze in patterns.
Other team members included Nestor Ambriz, Eric Bouche, Roger Chen, Nathan Daniel, Brendan Englert, Gaurav Gulati, Sarina Kapai, Rachel Lee, Daniel Park and Rashika Sunku.
Team Jue — coached by Gordon Jue, Pete Spraggins and Robin Russell — is made up of adults as well as young adult and teenage students.
The team qualified to be a part of Team USA at the U.S. Nationals tournament held in Houston, Texas in March. The students train year-round in black belt classes six times a week, with an additional cardio training and kickboxing component.
Patterns are detailed, choreographed movements constructed in 24 patterns to symbolize the 24 hours in a day. Sparring is a “free-form” type of fighting in which students can display their skills in self-defense and fighting in a respectful, controlled environment.
Power breaking involves breaking objects such as a thick piece of wood or plastic board with the hand or foot. Specialty breaking involves breaking several boards with flying techniques.
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