“We put St. Maarten again on the world map of Taekwondo,” beamed Grandmaster Theo Liu as his 11 athletes from the Friendly island were named Best Overall International Team at the 26th Puerto Rico International Taekwondo Open Championship Sunday.
St. Maarten best teams from the United States, Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands.
A total of 316 athletes competed in the open in both sparring and form demonstrations.
St. Maarten won 13 gold medals, six silver and three bronze.
Six-year-old Shailen James led the medal collection. He won two gold medals in sparring and a gold in forms.
Six-year-old Henri Seferina also won two gold medals in sparring and took bronze in forms.
Athletes wining one gold in sparring and a gold in forms were Shekinah
Carbon, Rique-Lee Rosalia – Liu and Key-Mari Richardson.
Silver medals in sparring went to Vanuye Beeldsnijder, Kendrys Fuentes, Gheisha-Lee Rosalia – Liu and Jacquelle Johnston.
Beeldsnijder and Fuentes also took silver in forms while Rosalia – Liu and Johnston earned bronze in forms.
The two adults on the team Lee-Ann Liu and Luisa Perez Veras both earned gold in forms and did not participate in sparring.
“The athletes learned a lot,” said the Grandmaster. They especially understand the changes in the international rules and scoring of points.”
More importantly the team received invitations to compete in other tournaments.
“We receive an invitation to travel to North Carolina,” said Liu.
The trip was made possible by NAGICO Insurances N.V., Euro Caribbean Linkup N.V., Oriental Caribbean Insurances (OCI), Guardian Group – Fatum N.V, and Intermar.
