Author: Sampo Pajulampi

Katso Livenä!

https://solidsport.com/tu11

Croatia Open 2025 took place 11.-12.10.2025.
U30 trios silver for Aino, Sofia and Mia (Wondo Espoo)! There were eight teams in the series and the victory went to the world class team from Malaysia . Silver was earned with match wins against Germany and Denmark.

In U30 singles Aino won the first round against the Austrian and lost the second. The Malaysian who beat Aino in the second round was definitely one of the top competitors in the world. Sofia suffered a narrow defeat against the Danish European Champion, with a very small point difference..

Mansen taekwondo
Place: Nääshalli, Näsijärvenkatu 8, 33210 Tampere, Finland
Time: 18.10.2025 at. 11-12.00

Persons responsible for weighing:
Aatu Dahl, dahlaatu@gmail.com, 045 1145391 and Ossi Mäntyniemi

Loviisa taekwondo

Loviisa taekwondo hall
Time: 18.10.2025 at 16-17.00 
Johtajantie 1 07900, Loviisa

The persons responsible for the weigh-in are Juha Aalto 0405094809 and Jenna Aalto.

Budokwai Taekwondo

Budokwai Martial Arts Centre, Uhrilähteenkatu 2, 20250 Turku, Finland
Time: Saturday 18.10. at 11.00-12.00
Responsible person: Maika Gröhn-Tammila, 040 750 1675

 

At the Riga Open G1/E1 tournament over the weekend, Milay Endaj took silver. Two wins and a narrow defeat in the final not only earned Milay his first junior medal in a G/E tournament, but also qualification for the European Championships. All eyes now turn to the European Junior Championships in Switzerland in late autumn.

Our other fighters stayed for the first round. Vivian and Dilruba and Peetu gained more experience in tough tournaments.

The annual Korean Ambassador's Cup was held again in Helsinki, at Tikkurila Sports Hall on Saturday 27.9. The competition is always one of the biggest of the year and this time it attracted competitors from Estonia and Denmark.

Business series

TU went into the competitions in full force, with every member of the competition team in the bosom participating either as a competitor, judge or both.

The cadet boys were Luca and Josef, with Luca being ranked 1st in the series straight into the semi-finals, and Josef starting from the quarter-finals. Josef's opponent was Elias Au-Nguyen of Denmark, who after a close battle was just a tad better, with Josef finishing 5th. Luca's opponent, Viljami Elonen of Pori Taekwondo, was also a little better this time and Luca shared 3rd place and a bronze medal.

Alex competed in the men's U30 category, where his first opponent in the semi-finals was Frans Salmi (Wondo Espoo). Alex performed brilliantly and the points difference was very narrow, but Frans was still victorious. Alex also won bronze with a shared 3rd place.

The women's U30 series was again the biggest of the Games with 16 participants. TU also had the most competitors in this category, with three: Aino, Sofia and Anna, who made her debut on the ranking side. In the first round, Sofia was immediately up against the top ranked player in the series, Mia Knutsson from Wondo Espoo. Sofia's performance was excellent and the fight was tight, with the score almost tied after the first round. However, the second semi-final brought a little more difference in favour of Mia who progressed to the final. So Sofia shared 9th place.

Anna and Aino advanced directly to the second round, where Anna made a great ranking debut, but the first match win was still on hold, resulting in a split 5th place for Anna. After 2 match wins, Aino advanced to the final where a fierce battle for the series win was waged, with the aforementioned Mia Knutsson narrowly beating her. Aino won silver in the biggest series of the competition!

In the women's O50 category, TU's Kirsimarja competed. In the final she was up against Olga Rantamäki of Wondo Helsinki, and Kirsimarja took the gold medal with a sure hand.

On the doubles side in the U17 age group Luca competed with Aliya Halhul (Wondo Helsinki). The pair who won the Beach SM gold earlier this summer tied with Topias Elosen and Amina Halhul of Pori Taekwondo and Wondo Helsinki, with presentation points going to the latter pair. Luca and Aliya took third place and bronze, with silver just a touch away, with the gold medal going to Denmark.

In the U30 pairs Sofia and Alex competed with their partners Lassi Kaasinen (Herttoniemen Taekwondo Hwang) and Kerttu Salminen (Wondo Espoo). Again, the difference between silver and bronze was subtle, with Sofia and Lassi taking silver by one hundredth of a point from Alex and Kerttu, who took home the bronze medal. In the O50 pairs, Kirsimarja and Antti Vehman (HNMKY) started the whole race with the first performance of the morning. The performances were solid and the result was gold, so double gold for Kirsimarja!

TU was represented by Aino and Sofia in the women's U30 series with Mia Knutsson. This new line-up has quickly welded together and with great performances they won the series and gold.

In the amateur series, Andrra made her debut in the Kids Blue series, where she competed for the first time. Andrra had a strong performance, finishing in 11th place. We will definitely be hearing more about this youngster! Viivi competed in two series, Blue Belts Female and Diesel Female. First up was the Diesel series, where Viivi took a great silver medal, later in the Blue Belts series Viivi came 7th.

Match

The good performances of the bouts left a bitter aftertaste, as the organisers made mistakes that forced some fighters to wait an unreasonably long time.

In the amateur and beginner categories Max, Minttu and Isabella competed. Isabella took the gold medal and Max and Mintu the silver medals. Mintu's debut match was played above her age group, as there was no E-girl to play against. So there was a gold medal in her own age group.

The ranking series were Narvin (gold), Milay (gold), Eero (bronze), Zahra (bronze), Anton, Alexandra and Max.

Narvin and Milay are heading to the Latvian G1 tournament this coming weekend, so the wins came with a bit of saving the hardest shots. The most interesting debutant was Zahra, who has spurs from Iran, but unfortunately the long break from training still showed in the match.

Eero, Anton, Alexandra and Max showed some good performances, but the whole still didn't hold together. However, they gained a lot of experience and in the next races all four of them will certainly be in higher positions.

Match race group 7-14 years old (athlete's contract), new times

Tue 17:30-19:00
Wed 17.30-19.00
Thu 18.00-19.30

Sun 7.9.2025
Taekwondo athletes 2011 hall
Ristipellontie 14, 00390 Helsinki

During the first open national camp of the autumn, the Finnish national team coaching duo Essi Labart and Vesa Suomalainen will be supported by former Danish head coach Kim Drube.

The first day of the camp is only for athletes who have already represented the national team in a national competition (this year or earlier), Sunday is open to all those interested in sports series. It is recommended to know at least Taegeuk 3 Jang, but it is not an absolute requirement.

Instructors:
Essi Labart 5th dan, head coach of the national sports team
Kim Drube 5th dan, former head coach of the Danish national sports team
Vesa Suomalainen 4. dan, national coach of business series

Place:
Taekwondo Athletes 2011, Ristipellontie 14, 00390 Helsinki, Finland

Sunday 7.9. (open to all):
10:00-12:00 training 1
12:00-13:30 Lunch break (self-catering)
13:30-14:45 training 2
14:45-15:00 break
15:00-16:00 training 3

Price:
Sunday 50 €

Registration via Suomisport until Friday 5.9.2025 at 20.00: https://www.suomisport.fi/events/9b166c88-aff5-42cb-9292-e578b87bcd38

Beach Taekwondo World Championships were held on 17.8. after a gap of one year, again in connection with the World Championships Week, this time in Leppävaara, Espoo. Due to unstable weather forecasts, the competitions were moved in advance from outdoor to indoor, in the Kameleonte Sports Centre, which served as a backup. Unlike the usual pool competitions, Beach Taekwondo will be contested in a cup format with both competitors (and pairs/groups) performing simultaneously, and instead of scoring points, the judges will vote for the winner in a flag vote.

In the junior categories, Luca Lonka and Josef De Ocampo competed in the Men under 17 category. Luca's power delivery and kicks have improved tremendously and Luca kept his head cool until the end of the series, winning three matches to take gold! Josef also made successful and strong performances, but the silver medalist Topias Elonen (Pori Taekwondo) was still too tough for him in the first round, finishing 5th-8th.

Luca also competed in the pairs category with Aliya Halhul from Wondo Helsinki. They started the series directly from the second round, and with two clear wins in this series they also won gold, so Luca won a double championship in Espoo.

In the under-30 age group, TU had the largest representation with four competitors. In the women's under 30 category, Aino Kortelainen, Sofia Sarala and Anna Vuokila competed. Aino and Sofia made their way through to the semi-finals, where they were eventually knocked out of the final. Both won three matches and took bronze medals in the second biggest series of the Games. It was Anna's first time at the world championship level and she made a great debut. Anna won her first match, and in the second match she was up against Aino, who, being more experienced, won this time. So for Anna, 5th-8th place.

In the men's under 30 category, Alex Jürgens competed and was directly in the final due to his ranking. A clear win for Mats and a championship for Alex. Alex also competed in the singles and doubles, together with Kerttu Salminen from Wondo Espoo. There was no doubt in the finals, Alex and Kerttu won gold and Alex also won a double title.

Aino and Sofia competed in the individual series and in the group series with their new teammate, Mia Knutsson from Wondo Espoo. The debut of this new team went very well and with two clear victories they won gold in this series as well.

In the women's 30+ age group, Marita Jaakkola and Kirsimarja Raitasalo competed. Marita won her semi-final, while Laura Wild (Mudokwan Vantaa), competing in the normal series, beat Kirsimarja in the semi-finals and then narrowly beat Marita in the final. So silver for Marita, bronze for Kirsimaria.

The next races are just over a month away, when on 27 September, one of Finland's traditional biggest races, the Korean Ambassador's Cup, will take place.

All results:

Gold:

- Luca Lonka / Men under 17
- Alex Jürgens / Men under 30
- Luca Lonka & Aliya Halhul (Wondo Helsinki) / Pairs under 17
- Alex Jürgens & Kerttu Salminen (Wondo Espoo) / Couples over 17
- Aino Kortelainen, Sofia Sarala & Mia Knutsson (Wondo Espoo) / Groups over 17

Silver:

- Marita Jaakkola / Women over 30

Bronze:

- Aino Kortelainen / Women under 30
- Sofia Sarala / Women under 30
- Kirsimarja Raitasalo / Women over 30

Sijat 5.-8.:

- Mir Josef De Ocampo / Men under 17
- Anna Vuokila / Women under 30

On Sunday, the Beach Taekwondo World Championships will take place. We have Luca, Joseph, Alex, Aino, Sofia, Marita, Anna and Kirsimarja. The event will be televised by Yle in the Arena: https://areena.yle.fi/1-62694142

Beach taekwondo WC will be held in Leppävaara Sports Park on Sunday at. 9.00 am. The event is free of charge. 

Beach Taekwondo

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