Nino Ontoy claimed gold for the Isle of Man at the 2018 British Taekwondo National Poomsae Championships in London recently.

The event was hosted at SportsDock University of East London and is the biggest event in the British Taekwondo calendar, featuring the GB team from the recent WT Poomsae World Championships in Taiwan as well as players from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar.

Manx Taekwondo’s Ontoy was the island’s sole representative and participated in two categories: Cadet under-14 individual and mixed pairs.

In his individual events, he competed against 27 fighters and, having gone into the competition on the back of a superb fifth place at the worlds, there was a lot of pressure on his young shoulders.

In the opening round, he sailed through with ease and was ranked number one. In the semi-finals, he faced his biggest rival on the court, Joshua Tobins, who is Britain’s current number two.

The latter produced an unexpected performance with a score of 7.3, leaving the crowd thinking he would be crowned the new British number one. However, Nino dug deep and fought back with composure and calm nerves to deliver a better performance of 7.47.

In the final round, Joshua was the slight favourite with a home crowd advantage and he again performed well with a score of 7.25.

Once again though, Nino kept his cool and showed his experience as he was able to deliver a better performance with a score of 7.38 to clinch the gold medal at the end of a thrilling match.

Nino competed in the mixed pairs alongside Shayma Mir from Premier Ki Taekwondo Club in London and, despite having very little time to practice together, they still manage to produce a good performance to finish second.

For Nino this was the best way to end the year as a six-time British National Poomsae champion. He would like to thank his parents, family, friends, sponsors, Manx Taekwondo and Master Rod Nielsen for all their support.

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Contact Rod Nielsen on 436181 or email [email protected] or visit Manx Taekwondo on Facebook to find out more.