Taekwondo Tournament

Saturday 14 June 2025

After Shore’s defeat at Barker College, the boys regrouped in training and set to work improving sparring techniques, footwork and recovery moves. Shore had a lot riding on their shoulders; they had to beat Barker and Sydney Grammar School (SGS) to have a chance at winning this season.

Shore 5-0 Barker

Benjamin Pennefather (Year 12) started the first round of our first game against Barker. Benjamin started strong! He ended up winning the game 3-0. Next up, we had Ethan Tong (Year 10). He was moving way better than his opponent, and it shaped up to be a very high-quality performance from him. Ethan won his game 3-0 as well. The next game was Josh Lo (Year 11). Josh is very experienced in sparring, and his match resulted in a guaranteed win for Shore in this game, 5-0. Josh is the third Shore boy to win his game in straight sets. Christian Wong (Year 11) also won his game in straight sets 3-0. It was shaping up to be the best performance from Shore this season. For the last bout, we had our Captain Andrew Gilchrist (Year 12). He fights clean and wins straight sets. Three points to nil, it was officially the best game from Shore, not only in the season but quite possibly ever. Hats off to the boys; all the hard sparring training over the last two weeks leading up to this has really paid off. Now for the main event- we had to verse SGS, who is the favourite to win the competition this season…

Shore 4-1 SGS

In our second game, Benjamin Pennefather (Year 12) was losing 0-1 in a very close and clinical game. He was versing a very experienced person, the Captain of SGS. Benjamin lost 0-3 in what seemed to be a closer match than that. We needed the boys to come back in the next four rounds. Next up, we had Ethan Tong (Year 10) against one of the SGS green belts. There was a lot of argy-bargy in this game, and the referee told them to clean up the technique. Unfortunately, Ethan was docked a point, with the ref explaining he kneed his opponent illegally. Now, losing 2-0, he needed to score! He did it and scored via a cross punch. The game is 2-1. He needed to square it up and make it 2-All. Ethan fought back and ended up winning his bout in an incredibly exciting match. Next up, our Captain Andrew Gilchrist (Year 12), in a Black Belt match. In a bit of a back-and-forth match, Andrew won his game 3-2. Next, we had Christian Wong (Year 11) in another Black Belt match. Christian ended up winning a golden point thriller 3- 2. In a match that was shaping up to be a bit of a walkover by Joshua Lo (Year 11), it ended up being a golden point cliffhanger. Josh potentially underestimated his opponent but ended up getting the chocolates. Shore won both competitions and is leading the competition alongside SGS – Go Shore!

Mr Steve Wyllie and Miss Fiona Gabanski-Sykes
MIC’s Taekwondo