Manx Taekwondo’s Nino Ontoy represented the Isle of Man as part of Team GB in the cadet category at the sixth International Poomsae Open held in Lille, France recently.

The tournament saw a field of more than 530 competitors from 21 countries take part in the World Taekwondo Europe event, with Nino going up against high-quality opposition from all over the world.

He placed second in the elimination round and then managed to creep up to first in semi-final but fell short as he made a slight mistake in the final round, losing by only 0.02 points against a Spanish opponent but still claiming the silver medal.

Despite that hiccup, he is still on the right track on his quest for the slot in Team GB for the World Poomsae Championship 2018 in Taiwan - out of eight players from the GB squad, he is the only one who reached the podium.

He also competed in the mixed pairs category with Natasha Wilson from Scotland, a newly-created partnership. Despite being a new pair with less time to practice because of the different locations and financial difficulties, they still managed to reach the finals and finished fifth place, just missing out on the medal position.

Chairman of British Taekwondo in the Isle of Man, Master Rod Nielsen would like to thank Dom Ontoy and Team GB:

’I am extremely delighted with how the weekend went and how extremely well Nino performed. If anyone would like information on Manx Taekwondo please visit us on Facebook or telephone 436181.’