The Southern African region of I.T.F.our organisation under Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa is progressing well and looking forward to a busy 2008.
Norman Magua (IV)(President TSA) and Denis Magua (IV)(Vice president TSA) from South Africa were honoured by being given the task of heading up the Southern African expansion region by the head of the I.T.F. Expansion committee Mr Don Dalton (VI) from Ireland in Birmingham last year.
The two brothers represent the southern region expansion under the head of the African Expansion Committee Mr George Ashiru (VI) from Nigeria.
The Southern African Region is coming up and hopes to be a real contender in the years to come. At the Birmingham World Championships South Africa received a record number of medals for our country. As well as the first ever silver medal in its history.
Since then some of the latest news was:
The most notable, being the newest and youngest member to the club, baby Jadon. He was born to Norman Magua (IV) and Tanya Magua(III) on 7 September 2007. He is already kicking and punching before he can walk.
Denis Magua became the second IV degree in our organisation.
On 26 January 2008, history was made. The brothers graded Mr Jose Lopes (Head of Mozambique) to first Dan in Johannesburg. Over the last year and a half Norman and Denis have visited Mozambique twice and hosted members from Mozambique at the South African training camp. Jose came two days early and got some last minute technical training before his grading.
His grading was very good. The improvement since the first visit is enormous. Jose’s commitment is inspiring. He has been doing Taekwon-Do for about ten years. When the brothers met him he was still a blue belt. He has been instructing like that for years. The ITF representative left many years ago. It just shows the resilience of ITF. The brothers said it was like walking into a time capsule.
It has been an honour for the brothers to bring them up to speed.
Preparations are currently underway for the Elite South African open Championships on 12&13 April 2008. Magua Taekwon-Do is hosting this tournament. It is hoped to have representation from the other Southern African countries. Mozambique has indicated they will bring a team.
Taekwon-Do South Africa also hopes to send a team to the European Championships in Sardinia Italy in July. Preparations are currently under way.
Norman Magua also hopes to grade to fifth dan this year and is working hard towards that.