Małe Smoki coaches with World Championship medals

Małe Smoki coaches with World Championship medals

World Championship gold medals for Karolina Czech and Michał Krupa, as well as World Cup gold medals for Ewa Wójcik and Dariusz Pazdan, are the most spectacular achievements 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, including 5 Małe Smoki coaches led by coach Mikołaj Kotowicz. The athletes included juniors and seniors who, over the previous two years, had demonstrated the greatest number of starts, participation in training camps and training sessions, as well as results at national and international level.

Specific preparations began 3 months before the start 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 Championship, while for coloured belts the tournament had the status of a World Cup. It was organised by 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, Michał Krupa achieved the greatest success, winning gold in sparring and bronze in patterns. These were his first medals at an event of this rank. In the semifinal, after overtime, 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 the first time she had won gold. She won her sparring event, defeating Conie Vaughan from Ireland in the final and thus avenging her defeat from the previous year at the Polish Open Cup.

Among the coloured belts, the competition was naturally at a lower level. Nevertheless, our gold medallists performed wonderfully. In the final, Ewa Wójcik defeated a representative of the host country, while Dariusz Pazdan defeated clubmate Ludwik Oleś in the final bout.

The entire trip lasted 7 days. Thanks to direct flights from Kraków to Cagliari, the journey went very smoothly. There was time for acclimatisation and additional training. On site, the team travelled in rental 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 Championship (black belts)

Michał Krupa

  • 1st place, senior sparring -60 kg
  • 3rd place, senior patterns 1st dan

Karolina Czech

  • 1st place, senior women’s sparring -70 kg

Adam Zięba

  • 2nd place, senior sparring -65 kg

Team event (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, senior women’s 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