Medals glory in Latvia for Scorpion Taekwondo athletes
Gainsborough Scorpion Taekwondo athletes Cody Glen and Connie Dwyer returned from Latvia with two more international medals after impressive performances at the Riga Open.
Following an intense three-day training camp with their Scorpion teammates, both athletes travelled to Latvia ready to face strong international opposition.
Cody delivered an excellent performance in his new -59kg weight category, adding another international bronze medal to his growing collection.
Entering the competition ranked seventh, Cody faced a Belgian in the round of 16.
After narrowly losing the opening round, he found his distance and began controlling the contest. An outstanding axe kick resulted in a standing count and shifted the momentum completely.
His opponent eventually withdrew in the third round.
In the quarter-final, Cody faced Armenia’s number two seed, Davit Grigoryan,a highly respected athlete and recent Dutch Open winner.
Cody narrowly lost the first round but responded brilliantly to win the second.
He then secured the decisive final round by a single point, guaranteeing a medal with an outstanding performance.
Cody faced Poland in the semi-final, his opponent ending up with the gold medal.
Despite falling short against a strong opponent, he produced an excellent six-point reverse shot and gained valuable experience.
Connie went one better and produced an outstanding performance in the Junior -55kg category to secure a fantastic silver medal.
She opened her campaign with a dominant quarter-final victory over Finland, winning the first round 6-0 before completing the match with a 9-1 second-round victory.
In the semi-final, Connie continued her impressive form against Ireland.
She won the opening round 11-0 and followed it with a commanding 12-2 victory to book her place in the final.
The gold medal contest against Lithuania was extremely close.
The opening round finished 0-0, with the referee awarding it to Connie.
The second round also ended 0-0, but this time went to Lithuania on referee decision.
In the deciding third round, Lithuania edged the contest 3-1.
Although the final could have gone either way, Connie showed tremendous determination, composure and fighting spirit throughout.
Both athletes can be extremely proud of their performances.
Their next major challenge is GB Taekwondo Talent Draft Phase 2, taking place on 12th and 13th September at Manchester’s National Training Centre.
Fellow Scorpions Ethan Roberts also secured gold and Riley Burton a silver while Elizabeth Adamsons narrowly went out in the quarter-finals to Denmark.