A young local taekwondo player has been crowned world champion and achieved black belt status, all within the space of just over
three months.
Nathan Wong, 12, who lives in Bradley Stoke and attends St Bede’s Catholic College, competed in the 2018 Taekwondo International World Championships in July. The tournament is an annual worldwide event and is the largest martial arts competition hosted by the Taekwondo Association of Great Britain. Over 2,000 competitors from 22 countries, including Australia, USA, Canada and Nepal, took part in the two-day event, which was held at the Arena Birmingham.
Nathan competed in two events, sparring and patterns, in the red belt boys 11-14 year-old category. In sparring, he lost his match at the quarter-final stage, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal. However, he managed to get through to the final round of the patterns category, going on to beat 30 other boys to win gold and take the title of world champion.
Nathan trains twice a week at the Bristol North Taekwondo club run by Russ Martin at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre. Since his world championship victory, he has been working hard towards achieving black belt status and was delighted to achieve this coveted award following his participation in a grading event held at the Bristol TAGB Academy over the weekend of 20th/21st October.
Russ Martin’s clubs in north and south Bristol have produced more than one world champion in recent years. In 2016, Lauren Macauley also won gold in the ladies light heavyweight red belt sparring category.
Photos – Top: Nathan on the podium at the world championships. Above left: Nathan with his world championship gold medal. Above, right: Nathan with his black belt certificate.
This article originally appeared in the November 2018 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on page 32). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH (except August), to ALL 8,700 homes in Bradley Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
