Manx Taekwondo Club fighter Nino Ontoy competed at the sixth annual TKDSAC Open Poomsae Championship in Portugal recently.

The event was held at the Pavilion Paz e Amizade sports hall in Loures on the outskirts of Lisbon, with the competition being one of two events counting towards selection to the 2023 Great Britain Poomsae Centralised squad.

In this competition, Nino was moved up to a higher category, the under-30s, despite the fact he is only 16 years old, making him the youngest in this group.

In his individual category, he missed out on the medal because of a single mistake on his second pattern which he performed for the first time since he was moved up a class.

Because of that, he landed fifth place with a 0.03 difference from fourth. In his pairs category, he also finished in fifth place.

But in his team category he joined forces with Maximo Libid and James Barret and they performed amazingly which put them in first place, therefore he returned home to the island with one gold medal.

After the disappointing results, he studied and practised hard to correct his mistakes and improve his performances with the help of his dad Dom as his coach and trainer and the support of Master Rod Nielsen for the next event.

This was the 2022 British National Poomsae Championship, the second competition for the selection process. The venue was the University of Worcester Arena with a field of 236 competitors from four countries.

Because of the previous results, he was not expecting to be number one but hoped to do well. In his first event, the pairs under-30, they managed to reach the final round but unfortunately his partner wobbled and lost their synchronicity, therefore they missed out on a medal.

Despite this not being the best of starts, Nino then teamed up with Libid and Akinrele Oluwatimilehin - dubbed the ‘Dream Team’ by the GB coaches - and together they performed brilliantly to clinch a gold medal.

That put his mindset to perform to his fullest in his individual category. He managed to stay on top for two rounds against 19 competitors and therefore claimed another gold.

This was a particularly sweet result after the disappointment in Portugal and shows that there is nothing impossible if you work hard and focus on your goal. Overall, Ontoy has now won nine British National Poomsae Championship titles in different age categories.

For further details on how to join the martial arts family, Manx Taekwondo, contact Master Rod Nielsen 436181 or find the club on Facebook by searching ‘Manx Taekwondo - Douglas & Onchan Trinity Taekwondo Club’.

Manx Taekwondo welcomes new members - both adults and children.