Asia Master Class – 2nd June 2023
The Asia Master Class was attended by 115 participants from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangladesh. The event was kick off at 9.00am with the arrival of ITF Vice President, Grandmaster Trevor Nicholls together with Asia Master Instructor, Master David Lau and Singapore INO# 35, Master Daniel Sng to the event. GrandMaster Trevor Nicholls then provide a short speech to all members attending which then proceed with a warm up session conducted by Master Kheirul Hisyam.
GrandMaster Trevor Nicholls took over after the warm-up session with everyone forming a circle surrounding Grandmaster Trevor Nicholls to be able to view on the techniques to be trained, with conducted some specific stances, blocking, hand attacks and kick attacks with explanation on the applications, speed and movement of the techniques from a technical aspect.
This session was also assisted by Master David Lau and Master Derek Ma (Hong Kong), Master Daniel Sng (Singapore) and Master Boon (Malaysia), with performing the techniques like stances, punches, blocks and kicks under the guidance of Grandmaster Trevor Nicholls as an example to the participants viewing to ensure the knowledge is shared till we break for lunch.
After lunch, the 2nd session continues with Master Derek Ma taking lead on conducting further techniques exercised and running through patterns with all participants. A Senior Grading was conducted by GrandMaster Trevor Nicholls together with Master David Lau and Master Daniel Sng which makes up the Examiner Panels for the 11 candidates.
Asia Invitational Taekwon-Do Championship – 3rd * 4th June 2023
It took months of preparation with the organizing committee from Elite Taekwon-Do Academy, MO# 442 arranging the venue, invitational information, championship categories, accommodations, government approvals and administration.
The championship had gathered 735 participants contesting in the 196 categories of individual and team events for patterns and sparring of various age range for the 2 days championship. The championship was open from white belt (10 kup) till 6th Degree Black Belt for the competitors to compete in their various disciplines. The championship had prepared 5 rings to cater for the events with the support of 66 umpires from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The championship on 3rd June 2023, kick off with the patterns categories for color belt, age 7 to 9 years boys and girls as a starter for the day. There was a total of 130 categories for the day, 52 categories for individual patterns and 6 categories for Team patterns to start off. The patterns for color belt had proceed smoothly with the relevant rings judging the categories assigned during the 1st half of the day which we had the opening ceremony for the Championship.
The Opening Ceremony was usher with 2 lions (lion dance) leading our Guest Of Honour in:
- YB Soon Lip Chee, Penang State EXCO for Youth and Sport
- YB Joseph Ng Soon Siang, State Assemblyman for Air Itam Constituency
- Tuan Mozakir Bin Buyong Mokhtar, Director of Department of Youth and Sports Penang
- Grandmaster Trevor Nicholls, Vice President of International Taekwon-Do Federation
- Master David Lau, Asia Master Instructor
- Master Daniel Sng, Singapore INO# 35
YB Soon Lip Chee gave a warming speech and is touch by the numbers of competitors, around 850 participants from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh and India for this Championship in Penang and looking forward to have it as an annual event for all taekwon-doist to continue to compete in the name of sportsmanship/sportwomanship in the island of Penang, Malaysia.
This was then followed by a speech by Tuan Mozakir Bin Buyong Mokhtar which echo on the speech by YB Soon Lip Chee, that it was a great event which had manage to gather 850 participants not only from Malaysia, but also from overseas like Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh and india which shows that sports can unite all countries together for a common caused.
Grandmaster Trevor Nicholls, whom is the Vice President of International Taekwon-Do Federation also convey his thanks and appreciation to the organizing committee on the success of the Master Class and Championship and gathering members locally and overseas to such an event in Penang, Malaysia.
After the speeches, a presentation of souvenir was presented to the Guest Of Honour for the Championship which after saw a show of lion dance with breaking boards and then officiate the opening ceremony of the Asia Invitational Taekwon-Do Championship 2023 in Penang, Malaysia.
After the opening ceremony is completed and break, the events continue for the 2nd half of the day with the sparring events which consists of 70 individual categories and 2 team categories. There were some mishaps during the events but was handled through the Technical Director and Organizing Chairman which smoothen out the disputes.
Team winners for Color belts on the 1st day of the championship are as below:
| Team | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| SWCS TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY (MO# 632) | 10 | 6 | 9 |
| HONG KONG TAEKWON-DO COUNCIL | 10 | 7 | 1 |
| ELITE TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY (MO# 442) | 5 | 12 | 19 |
| CJHITF SABAH | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| WEE MARTIAL ARTS (MO# 451) | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| GHANI ITF ACADEMY | 2 | 4 | 4 |
The 2nd day of the Championship on 4th June had a total of 66 Black Belt categories with 26 individual patterns, 2 team pattern, 36 individual sparring and 2 team sparring which started with the Black Belt categories for patterns with the senior ranks of 4th to 6th degree where the ring judging panel of Master Daniel Sng from Singapore, Master Derek ma from Hong Kong and Master Kheirul Hisyam from Malaysia. In concurrent, the other black belt pattern categories were being in progress on the other rings.
Team winners for Black Belts on the 2nd day of the championship are as below:
| Team | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| HONG KONG TAEKWON-DO COUNCIL | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| ELITE TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| SWCS TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| CJHITF SABAH | 1 |
Black Belt Individual – Gold Medallist (in their own categories)
| Name | Team | Rank | Pattern | Sparring |
| VENICE TEOH YI WEN | ELITE TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| Wong Tsui Shan | HONG KONG TAEKWON-DO COUNCIL | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| Bernard Poon Bong Kee | HONG KONG TAEKWON-DO COUNCIL | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| SOO YU TING | ELITE TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| TEH WEI ZHEN | ELITE TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 4th Degree | 1 | |
| BAK XI XIAN | ELITE TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| NIKITA EVSTRAT NG JIAN HAO | ELITE TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| Chan Pan Kiu Oscar | HONG KONG TAEKWON-DO COUNCIL | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| Chan Sui Hei Katie | HONG KONG TAEKWON-DO COUNCIL | 1st Degree | 1 | |
| LO PUI SZE | HONG KONG TAEKWON-DO COUNCIL | 4th Degree | 1 | 1 |
| HEE KAI SHENG | SWCS TAEKWON-DO ACADEMY | 1st Degree | 1 |
The championship for the 2 days is without mishaps but it was dealt with immediately by the organizers to ensure the smooth progress of the categories to complete. The Master Class and Asia Invitational Taekwon-Do Championship wouldn’t be successful without the support from the Malaysia Government, ITF Malaysia, International Taekwon-Do Federation, all Taekwon-Do associations and especially GrandMaster Trevor Nicholls and Master David Lau for their undying support and trust in us.
Written by: Master Boon Ken Loon
Organizing Chairman: Elite Taekwon-Do Academy, MO# 442