Smelling Kumdo tournament air
Originally posted on March 27th, 2014.
Last saturday my Kumdo master asked me to accompany them to a Kumdo tournament. Of course I joined them to support my Kumdo girls and to actually see how the tournaments in Korea are conducted. This tournament was held at the Seoul Sports Complex during 2 days in which saturday was for children, women and highschool students who are doing Kumdo professionally.
The Seoul Sports Komplex is located in the Gangnam area (yes, Gangnam from 'Gangnam style'). It was finished in 1976 and has hosted some of the biggest global sporting events like the 10th Asian Games and the 24th Seoul Olympics in 1988. So it is not surprising how huge the area is with a baseball stadium, two swimming centers and many indoor sports facilities. Still I was pretty astonished.
As it was one of the first spring days we had a Korean picnic outside with with rice and Korean side dishes. I enjoyed it very much as I am getting to know my Kumdo class better and better. Although each of them are different and have their own personalities they are all such caring and lovely persons including my master. It almost feels like a big family. 😄
Finally we went inside. And yes, this tournament was a really big event! I could watch many Kumdo matches from professionals. Wow! Getting to see that was really thrilling. 🔥
Highlights were the matches from our team. We had team A and team B. Each team had 3 participants. The teams were distinguished by the level and duration of the Kumdoists. We all had some exciting and nerv-jangling hours. Unfortunately team B was out after 2 rounds. To get to the next round it was necessary that at least 2 of the 3 from the team make a point. Our team A on the other side was pretty successful. They gained Silver!
This was of course celebrated with a lot of food and beer after that long eventful day! Looking forward and getting excited to my tournament in June! *fightiiiing
