For 4 years now the TNM (Tasman, Nelson Marlborough) Invitational Tournament has given budding new Taekwondo enthusiasts the opportunity to experience a full contact Taekwondo Tourny, without the stress of being part of the National Competition. It's also been an excellent field for many of New Zealands top TKD athletes to practise their skills and try out new fighting techniques – and to get a taste of how the competition is shaping up.

The TNM Invitational is an open tournament, so all TKD clubs were welcome to participate – not just those sharing the host clubs NZTF affiliation, and this gave the competitors a good cross section of talent to check out.

This years TNM tournament, held in Richmond, was no exception. Around 90 competitors in all divisions took to the ring to put all their theory into practise – and give the crowd something to yell about.

Many fights came down to a golden round in order to determine the winner – and battle sore and weary competitors forced their bodies to the max to grab the single point they needed to secure victory – and the crowds loved it!

Lunchtime came and with it, a relatively new addition to the TNM tourny took centre stage – the pattern competition.

Around 20 players poured their hearts into delivering the perfect pattern – sharp techniques, movements that 'snapped' audibly and muscles that trembled with effort – 2 patterns of their choice, 5 judges and a single player the attention of all.

The blackbelt combined division came down to a draw with two players asked to present one more pattern each, the Shaolin style pattern from Andrew Hausman that eventually won this division, left the audience with no doubt that what they were seeing was a battle between a man and a formidable foe – stunningly executed and well worthy of first place, Hausman's technique was a visual reminder of how beautiful a well practised pattern can be.

Once the pattern competition finished the afternoon took on a slightly more intense feel as the majority of the finals were fought.

Of particular note – and real crowd pleasers – were the Boys 5-3 Keub Under 135-145cms final, the Girls Lightweight Combined 5-3 Keub final with Jenna O'Brien and Jessie Jordan giving it all only to have victory finally go to O'Brien in a well fought golden round – and the absolute battle that took place between Malcolm Fairhall from Richmond TKD and Patrick Lui of New Brighton In The Male Middle/Heavyweight 2-1 Keub. Drama aplenty as Lui fought to keep control- of both the fight and his temper, eventually Fairhall's cool focus won out.

Once again, the day was well run by Master Hamish Wybrow and his team, and with the presentation of the trophies and awards, a special gift for each of the team instructors the TNM Invitational Tournament was over for another year.

The results are as follows –

T.N.M. TAEKWONDO INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT RESULTS

PATTERNS RESULTS

WHITEBELT CHILDREN

ROY CAMPBELL 1ST
HEATHER CAMPBELL 2ND
BRYCE TAYLOR 3RD

JUNIOR COLOUR BELT BOYS

NICHOLAS BARRY 1ST
CHRISTOPHER DEERY 2ND
JARED PUKLOWSKI 3RD

INTERMEDIATE COLOUR BELT BOYS

WILLIAM SCORRAR 1ST
JUSTIN WRIGHT 2ND
PATRICK MILLER 3RD

Justin Wright doing Patterns

INTERMEDIATE GRADE FEMALE COLOUR BELT

NORMA SHERMAN 1ST
JO BATCHETT 2ND
TONI-LEE PHIPPS 3RD

SENIOR GRADE FEMALE COLOUR BELT

TANYA MILLER 1ST
LEE SOPER 2ND
LISA GUTHARDT 3RD

BLACKBELTS

ANDREW HAUSMAN 1ST
DIANNA SIM 2ND
GRACE HITEHOUSE 3RD

FIGHT RESULTS

BOYS 8-6 KEUB UNDER 130cms

Patric Miller ( Richmond TKD ) 1st
Aidan MacKenzie ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd
Tony Kemp ( Richmond TKD ) 3rd

BOYS 8-6 KEUB UNDER 135-145cms

Nathan Salt ( Richmond TKD ) 1st
Tyler Boyd ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd
Nicholas Barry ( Clevedon TKD ) 3rd=
Christopher Deery ( Clevedon TKD ) 3rd=

BOYS 8-6 KEUB 150-160cms

Stephen Patchett ( Renwick TKD) 1st
Rongomai Hokianga ( Woodbourne TKD) 2nd
Zac Ogden ( Richmond TKD ) 3rd=
Stefan Miler ( Richmond TKD ) 3rd=

BOYS 8-6 KEUB OVER 160cms

Jarrod Walding ( Clevedon TKD ) 1st
Ben Norquay ( Nelson TKD) 2nd

DEMONSTRATION 8-6 KEUB UNDER 125cms

Calais-Michelle Hokianga ( Woodbourne TKD) 1st
Ryan Barrett ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd
Lydia Harris ( Richmond TKD ) 3rd

GIRLS 8-6 KEUB UNDER 125-135cms

Kylie Stechman ( Nelson TKD) 1st
Tyler Barrett ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd
Calais-Michelle Hokianga ( Woodbourne TKD) 3rd

GIRLS 8-6 KEUB UNDER 140-150cms

Crystal Stechman ( Nelson TKD) 1st
Amy Stechman ( Nelson TKD) 2nd
Wirihana Dethierry ( Nelson TKD) 3rd

GIRLS 8-6 KEUB UNDER 150-160cms

Ngapera Hokianga ( Woodbourne TKD) 1st
Paula Stechman ( Nelson TKD) 2nd
Ashleigh Robinson (Renwick TKD) 3rd

Ashleigh Robinson ( Renwick) and Paula Stechman ( Nelson)

SENIOR WOMEN 8-6 KEUB

Joann Patchett ( Renwick TKD) 1st
Norma Sherman ( Motueka TKD ) 2nd

MALE JUNIOR COMBINED WELTER 8-6 KEUB

Chanin Noimatuan ( Clevedon TKD ) 1st
Chad Robinson ( Renwick TKD) 2nd
Matt Jenkins ( Motueka TKD ) 3rd

Chad Robinson ( Renwick)and Chanin Noimatuan ( Clevedon )

MALE JUNIOR COMBINED HEAVY 8-6 KEUB

Richard Kennard ( Motueka TKD ) 1st
Joshua King ( Nelson TKD) 2nd

MALE FEATHERWEIGHT 8-6 KEUB

Tomoki Kaji ( Avonhead TKD ) 1st
Brendon Barrett ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd

MALE MIDDLEWEIGHT 8-6 KEUB

Tawanda Mathetha ( Woodbourne TKD) 1st
Scot Martin ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd
Bob Llewellyn ( Richmond TKD ) 3rd=
Gavin Harris ( Richmond TKD ) 3rd=

BOYS 5-3 KEUB UNDER 135-145cms

Joseph Rasmussen ( Clevedon TKD ) 1st
Braedon O'Brien ( Renwick TKD) 2nd
Justin Wright ( Renwick TKD) 3rd

Justin Wright ( Renwick) and Joseph Rasmussen ( Clevedon)

BOYS 5-3 KEUB UNDER 145-155cms

Thomas Coughlan ( Golden Bay TKD) 1st
Cameron Taylor ( Woodbourne TKD) 2nd

GIRLS LIGHTWEIGHT COMBINED 5-3 KEUB

Jenna O'Brien ( Renwick TKD) 1st
Jessie Jordan ( Nelson TKD) 2nd
Tammy Fowler ( Richmond TKD ) 3rd

MALE FEATHERWEIGHT 5-3 KEUB

Raphael Walterfang ( Nelson TKD) 1st
Ryan Tear ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd

MALE FEATHERWEIGHT COMBINED 5-3 KEUB

Michael Keen ( Clevedon TKD ) 1st
Steve Burt ( Nelson TKD ) 2nd

BOYS 2-1 KEUB UNDER 135-145cms

William Scorrar ( Clevedon TKD ) 1st
Jacob Solomon ( Avonhead TKD) 2nd

BOYS 2-1 KEUB OVER 160cms

James Robinson ( New Brighton TKD) 1st
Zar Harper ( Golden Bay TKD) 2nd
Marco Zdenka ( Avonhead TKD) 3rd

GIRLS 2-1 KEUB UNDER 160CM

Caryssa O'Brien ( Renwick TKD) 1st
Allanah Baggstrom ( Woodbourne TKD) 2nd

FEMALE FEATHERWEIGHT COMBINED 2-1 KEUB

Sam Neilson ( New Brighton TKD) 1st
Tanya Miller ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd

FEMALE LIGHTWEIGHT 2-1 KEUB

Ji-Hye Yun ( Avonhead TKD) 1st
Alana Sullivan ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd

MALE WELTERWEIGHT 2-1 KEUB

Mike Kyle ( Nelson TKD ) 1st
Brenndon Hannen ( Richmond TKD ) 2nd
Flori Dahl ( Golden Bay TKD) 3rd

MALE MIDDLE/HEAVYWEIGHT 2-1 KEUB

Malcolm Fairhall ( Richmond TKD ) 1st
Patrick Lui ( New Brighton TKD) 2nd

FEMALE BLACKBELT FEATHERWEIGHT

Andrea Kilday ( Hornby TKD) 1st
Dianna Sim ( Cardinals TKD) 2nd

FEMALE BLACKBELT LIGHTWEIGHT

Nichola Mulholland ( Hornby TKD) 1st
Leigh-ann Champion ( Nelson TKD) 2nd
Grace Whitehouse ( Cardinals TKD) 3rd

MALE BLACKBELT FEATHERWEIGHT

Desmond Allen ( Hornby TKD) 1st
Andrew Hausman ( Motueka TKD) 2nd