TAE KWON DO: Success as Giorgio mixes with big boys (From Enfield Independent)

TAE KWON DO: Success as Giorgio mixes with big boys

11:42am Monday 28th April 2008

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A YOUNG martial arts ace from Enfield saw off boys six years older than him to claim a medal at the English Tae Kwon Do Championships.

Nine-year-old Giorgio Ryan won bronze in one category and finished fourth in another at the most prestigious Tae Kwon Do tournament in the country.

The Lavender Primary School pupil won bronze in the boys' black belt sparring and was narrowly beaten into fourth place in the under-15 boys' patterns, where a set of 36 technical movements have to be performed to perfection, or as near as possible.

This weekend Giorgio will travel to Cork, in the Republic of Ireland, to take on the cream of Europe in the European Tae Kwon Do Championships.

Giorgio has had to fit in his preparations for this tournament alongside training to get in the south-east England squad and playing for both Enfield Town under-9s and Enfield 1893 under 9s football teams.

The superfit youngster hit the headlines last year when he became the youngest boy in the country to be awarded a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

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