MICHAŁ KRUPA AND KAROLINA CZECH ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!

Gold medals at the World Championships for Karolina Czech and Michał Krupa, as well as World Cup gold medals for Ewa Wójcik, Dariusz Pazdan and Szymon Grzebyk – these are the most spectacular successes of the athletes of Krakowskie Centrum Taekwon-do. The tournament was held on 25–27 October 2019 in Maracalagonis, Italy, and was attended by nearly 500 female and male competitors from 16 countries around the world.

The KCT team flew to Sardinia in a 10-person squad led by coach Mikołaj Kotowicz. The athletes included juniors and seniors who over the previous two years had demonstrated the highest number of competitions, participation in training camps and training sessions, as well as results at national and international level.

 

Direct preparations began 3 months before the event and enabled the athletes to prepare optimally for the competition. The results confirmed this, as our athletes won a total of 15 medals (5 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze).

The competition had a dual character. For black belts, it was the World Championships, while for coloured belts the tournament had the status of the World Cup. The organiser was the ITF Union federation, headed by Grand Master Don Dalton, 9th dan. Nearly 500 taekwondo practitioners from 16 countries on 5 continents competed in Maracalagonis.

 

Among the black belts, the greatest success was achieved by Michał Krupa, who won gold in sparring and bronze in patterns. These are his first medals at an event of this rank. In the semifinal, after extra time, he defeated a representative of Kyrgyzstan, while in the final he won against Mikołaj Koźmiński from Wrocław.

 

Karolina Czech had already won a World Championship medal, but this was her first gold medal. She won her sparring event, defeating Conie Vaughan from Ireland in the final and taking revenge for last year’s defeat at the Polish Open Cup.

Adam Zięba took second place. He reached the final with ease, where, after a close bout that ended in extra time, he had to acknowledge the superiority of the representative of Italy. This is Adam’s greatest senior achievement in his career.

 

Our athletes produced a major and positive surprise in the team competition.  They competed in sparring, winning silver, and in strength tests, taking 3rd place. In the 5-person team, in addition to those mentioned above, was Mateusz Kopciński, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the individual sparring but was unstoppable in the team events. The national team was also joined by two athletes from Wrocław. Although Michał and Adam were seriously injured after their events, and because there were no weight divisions our team was the lightest in the field, everyone nevertheless showed an “indomitable spirit”, defeating Scotland in the semifinal and facing the Russian team in the final. Unfortunately, the latter proved better by one bout.

 

For coloured belts, the competition was understandably at a lower level. Nevertheless, our gold medallists performed brilliantly. Szymon Grzebyk literally outclassed his opponents from Scotland and… Wrocław, Ewa Wójcik dealt with the host representative in the final, while Dariusz Pazdan defeated his clubmate Ludwik Oleś in the final bout. Gabriela Kowalska, meanwhile, lost a Polish-versus-Polish final to an athlete from Samuraj Wrocław.

 

The entire trip lasted 7 days. Thanks to direct flights from Kraków to Cagliari, the journey went very smoothly. There was time to acclimatise and for additional training. On site, the team travelled in rented cars. This made it possible to combine the sporting event with discovering Sardinia: the island’s capital, Cagliari, Porto Torres in the north, Alghiero in the west, and the beautiful cliffs located nearby.

 

The detailed results of our athletes are below.

World Championships (black belts)

Michał Krupa
– 1st place, senior sparring -60 kg
– 3rd place, senior patterns 1st dan

Karolina Czech
– 1st place, women’s senior sparring -70 kg

Adam Zięba
– 2nd place, senior sparring -65 kg

Team (Adam Zięba, Michał Krupa, Mateusz Kopciński – KCT Kraków, Piotr Zieliński, Mikołaj Koźmiński– Samuraj Wrocław):
– 2nd place, senior sparring
– 3rd place, senior strength tests

World Cup (coloured belts)

Dariusz Pazdan
– 1st place, senior sparring -65 kg
– 2nd place, senior patterns 2–1 kup

Szymon Grzebyk
– 1st place, junior sparring -70 kg
– 3rd place, junior patterns 2–1 kup

Ewa Wójcik
– 1st place, women’s senior sparring -60 kg
– 3rd place, patterns 6–1 kup

Gabriela Kowalska
– 2nd place, junior women’s sparring -70 kg

Ludwik Oleś
– 2nd place, senior sparring -65 kg
– 3rd place, senior patterns 2–1 kup