A GROUP of martial arts exponents from the Port Stephens region have done their country proud at this year’s International Taekwondo Federation World Games in Korea.

Leading students from the Titan Martial Arts School in Raymond Terrace were part of a strong United ITF Taekwon-Do Australian team that brought home three gold, five silver and two bronze medals from the prestigious event.

Under the guidance of Titan Head Coach and latest ITF Hall of Fame inductee Michael Omay the Aussie contingent performed above all expectations in Seoul with a largely fresh batch of international participants.

These included the squad’s youngest competitors – eleven year old Seaham schoolboy Vinnie Lenton and thirteen year old Raymond Terrace find Eli Oliver who each collected gold in a tremendous feat.

Oliver, a student at Hunter River High School, clinched gold in the Under 14 Male Sparring Colour Belt and picked up a silver medal in the Under 14 Patterns 9th-5th Gup.

Pocket dynamo Lenton, who attends Seaham Primary School, claimed gold in the 10-11yrs Sparring Colour Belt.

Jordan Want was the team’s third gold medal recipient after winning the Adult Male Hyper Weight Sparring event.

Irrawang High School teacher Cath Page was a standout in her class – grabbing silver medals in both the Senior Ladies Black Belt Sparring Heavyweight and Senior Ladies First Degree Patterns.

Titans Senior Instructor Natasha Omay told News Of The Area that the team’s ten medal haul was “a phenomenal effort”.

“The squad didn’t have high expectations before heading to Korea but stood up to be counted against world-class opponents,” Natasha revealed.

“With 700 competitors from thirty countries and a very high standard across the board it was the toughest level of competition our squad had ever encountered,” she added.

Other medal recipients included Phil Zdybel from Geelong in Victoria who collected silver in the Veteran Male Hyper Weight Sparring and bronze in the Veteran Male 5th Degree Pattern;

Archer Woller picked up silver in the Adult Male Hyper Weight Black Belt Sparring while Sam Wilson claimed bronze in the Adult Male 5th Degree Patterns.

Three team members – Simon Aliendi, Chris Streets and Canberra’s Grace Ellis – narrowly missed out on medals after turning in strong performances.

Aliendi and Streets both produced top efforts in their sparring events with Simon making it into the top five during elimination rounds in the Adult Male Power Breaking.

Grace stayed in medal contention in the Women’s Power Breaking – an event that featured almost 40 entries.

She joined Page, Aliendi and South Australia’s Robert Wuttke on an Australian coaching panel ringside along with Head Coach Michael Omay.

Titan Martial Arts School has been established in Raymond Terrace since 2019 with Michael and Natasha Omay having taught in the Port Stephens region for more than a decade.

Earlier this year Titan competed at the third Global Open Taekwondo Championships in Melbourne where they were judged the Best Overall ITF team after capturing the most medals.

By Chris KARAS