This time, Ess and Aino's race trip went a little further away from home, all the way to Las Vegas. The four-day G2-level US Open gathered taekwondo elites from around the world, so Aino and Essi were able to perform in quite a tough company. Although there were no medals this time, the experience was unforgettable and, judging by the race team's reports, it was definitely the last one on the American continent.

Below is Essi's report from the Games:

"The US Open is over for us this year and today we are going home. The competitions were really big, more than 2000 participants. Nevertheless, the arrangements work well. There was some adjustment with schedules and overlaps, but otherwise everything worked well.

On the same day, Aino took part in the match and movement sets, and after her second match, she was able to run almost straight to the stage to perform. Despite that, Aino managed to continue. Aino doesn't want to go to the finaldespite the rites, unfortunately made it. Even in that series, the level is wild. In the match, Aino won her first match nicely and got into the top eight. The opponent of the second match managed to win the points with his escaping style. The referees' actions could be criticized a little, at least from the eyes of a poomsa athlete, but it just has to be so good that nobody manages to win even with such a game. Suvi Mikkonen acted as Aino's coach in the match and the joint play seemed to work well.

The linear under-30 series was a complete battle and the charts published the night before looked really good in terms of progression. Half an hour before the start of the series, the charts were unexpectedly changed and I got the USA World Cup representative as my first opponent. A really tough opponent dampened the mood a bit, but on the other hand it also gave the freedom to shoot at full blast without any backup. In that sense, I was able to perform hard, although I didn't manage to beat my opponent. Well, you just have to be so good that you can beat anyone. :)"

T. Essi

Photo from Long Beach, Los Angeles. (For the next trip, we need a photographer with a decent camera)

Eddie Quinones took silver from the German Open. Driton Kurtelian from Switzerland fell in the semifinals. In the final, the Bulgarian opponent was stronger 9-17.

Tuikku played against Greece's Effrosyni Kaltsi 1-2. The match was scoreless and one unclear hold warning turned the match for the Greek.

Together with Olli Siltanen and Frans Salme, Christian Kamphuis took gold from the ranking games in Paris in the series group U-30. Christian and Essi's season opening in the individual series was good, but not quite enough for the final rounds.

The race gave a good impression of the starting season, as there were more than 500 participants.

The final scores of the 2016 match league have been published

The 2016 match league was wrapped up in the Parainen league finals at the end of November. The association published the final total points and series points now, although of course the winners already received their trophies in connection with the league finals. Taekwondo athletes was the third most successful match club. The second place could not have been closer, with Turku Budokwai Taekwondo only one point ahead in the total points. Euran Yong taekwondo won the combined points competition with a clear difference to the following.

Taekwondo athletes were particularly strongly represented in the cadet series. Plum won no less than two league championships from the cadets' -41 and -45 series. Hannes won the -49 series by solving a tight and even tighter twist to his name in the league finals. Eddie, on the other hand, easily won the -57 kg category. In the girls, Aino won the -33 series with a clear point difference and came second in the -29 series. Emmi's victory in the girls' -51 series was also clear. There were no wins in B-junnu and adults, but there were places. As the younger age group grows, even those series start to fill up with Taekwondo athletes and first placers.

Congratulations again to all the league medalists!

41 new belt values from the December belt exams

The tension was palpable in the gym on Wednesday 14.12. when all junnu groups had a belt test day. As usual, the excitement turned from the first crab walks into a good cheer and hard concentration. On the children's side, Jenna and Riina awarded tiger badges to four hard-working trainers and a dragon badge to one. In the belt test, the children showed their best skills, and the badges were certainly earned at the end of an intensive hour. On the other side of the curtain, Pauli supervised first the test for yellow and green ribbons and then the test for upper belt grades. Pauli was very satisfied with the skills of both groups. On Thursday, a small group of adults took their test under Sampo's supervision, and the bar was easily crossed by the whole group.

Congratulations to everyone on their new belt ranks!