WLTKD’s chief instructor Mr Martin Noddings came out of a 7 year retirement from competing for last weekends Inter-services championships, an annual competition between the RAF, Army and Navy.
The competition was held at the naval base HMS Nelson, Portsmouth in their glass roofed sports hall on an exceptionally hot day, the temperature reaching 32 degrees by 10 o’clock.
The competition began with the sparring split down into two weight categories and each fight being 2 x 2 minute rounds. The competition was fierce as expected with a lot of young military personal competing for their respective services.
Due to the intense heat in the sports hall it was decided that the team sparring competition would be cancelled due to the risk to health.
The patterns competition however did take place after the sparring split in to coloured belt and black belt categories.
Martins results were as follows:
Sparring - Reached the semi-finals and was beaten by the gold medal winner
Patterns - Silver medal on a split decision in the final
Now it’s back into retirement for Martin, however he achieved his goal of showcasing his skills and experience and is very proud to have been asked to coach the RAF TKD team.
