Race report from Porvoo

The autumn domestic competition season continued on October 8. In Porvoo. The taekwondo athletes were represented by a number of familiar faces as well as a couple who had not been to the games.

Upbeat performances on trains

In the morning, first-timer Iines Korhose had a reason to smile when, after two rather overwhelming victories, a gold medal was hung around his neck.

Venne Viitaniemi, who competed in his second competition, also showed a model of hard kicks. The first opponent's attempts were quickly reduced to Venne's kicks, but in his second match, Venne had to bow to numbers 4-5.

Janika Tatti competed in two series, the final matches of both of which were almost consecutive. An unfortunate loss in the first turned into a tasty victory in the second at the end of a tight match.

Lauri Hulikkala won his first match 5-4, but had to admit that his tall opponent was better in the final. Lauri's persistent effort until the last seconds of the match was amazing to watch.

The D1 girls' -30kg series was strongly represented, as three of the four competitors recognized the colors of Taekwondo athletes. A mutual match could not be avoided, and Jenny Vettenniemi and Aino Kortelainen took the measure of each other in the semifinals. This time, Jenny was one point better and advanced to the final against the Porvoo who won Sofia. Unfortunately, the final ended in a 0-1 loss, but Jenny already vowed to win next time.

Frans Orjasniemi found scoring opportunities well, but the kicks remained cautious and the required number of points did not accumulate on the board. Similarly, Risto Hyvärinen, who played in adult amateurs, was unnecessarily careful with his kicks and thus lost in the opening match.

A small team in cadets

Only Emilia Lahti and Plum Kopisto were responsible for the cadet representation this time, when part of the team was in the Latvian G1 tournament. However, both of them participated in two series and the balance was a nice 3 gold and 1 silver. Plum's performance in the final of the cadet -45kg series was extremely positive. A strong and taller opponent roared forward with power, but Plum stopped him in one situation after another, snapping home the points himself. The tactically very complete match ended with a 3-0 win for Plum. Only 8 seconds had passed in Plum's second final, when the opponent had to give up due to a leg injury. However, the 3-0 score for Plum showed that Plum's hunt for points had only just begun.

Emmi got busy with her own finals, when one was waiting to start while the other was still in progress. A loss from B1 teams, but a 3-1 win from our own cadet series. Emmi's elegant solution in the last moments of the match brought the victory home, when the overtime was only seconds away.

The coaching team Juho Ranta, Petteri Kauppinen and Pauli Raivio were satisfied with the day's performance. The team's team spirit played really well and the parents were always involved in the heart of the action. Hopefully, we will go to the Vantaa Ambassador's Cup with a twice as big team in the same positive spirit!