The BTCB Great Britain Poomsae Team will fly out to fly out this Friday 12th December to participate at the 3rd WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Ankara, Turkey. The team will spend a few days preparing for the event which is expected to be the largest to date with more than 60 countries and 500 athletes expected to attend. The three-day event will run from the 16th 18th December and will be held over three rings in the ASKI Sport Hall, which is the biggest and most modern indoor stadium in Ankara. This is also the first time the WTF have held the World Po omsae Championships outside of South Korea.

The Junior categories will be held first on Day 1 with Georgina Stalford (Livingwell) and Guntur Dwiarmein (Livingwell) in contention for medals. Georgina has been selected from an extremely strong Junior Female category following Gold Medal winning performances at the Dutch and Portuguese International Opens. For 2008 British Champion Guntur Dwiarmein this is his second opportunity at the World Championships having been selected to represent the country at the 1st World Championships where he was the youngest competitor to take part. Guntur will return to this event much more experienced following a successful year having taking medals in Portugal as well as at the UTA (GB) Open in Manchester.

Day 2 will see the 1st Senior categories in action with Chan Sau (Halton UTA) and Melissa McSorley (Livingwell) as well as the 2nd Masters Male category which Master T.W. Shin (Shins Academy UTA) will contest. All three competitors were members of last years Great Britain team which competed at the 2nd World Poomsae Championships in South Korea and all will be aiming to improve on their results and come back with medals at the Championships. Chan Sau, who will contest the 1st Senior Male category, recently took Gold at the 4t h Commonwealth Championships in Canada following on from other successes this year including Gold at British Championships, UTA (GB) Open and Portuguese Open as well as medalling at the Dutch Open and reaching the finals at the 2007 European Poomsae Championships. British Champion Melissa McSorley will be competing in the 1st Senior Female category and will be aiming to top the year off with another medal to add to her silverware which includes Silver medals at the Dutch Open, UTA (GB) Open and Portuguese Open. Melissa and Chan will also be competing in the 1st Pairs category following Gold Medal winning performances at the National Championships as well as medals at the Dutch, Portuguese and UTA (GB) Opens. 2007 European Bronze Medallist and 2007 World Championships finalist Master Shin will aim to add a World Championships medal to his other successes this year including Gold at the National Championships and UTA (GB) Open.

New Joint National Team Coach Master Stephane Roth (Livingwell) is the most experienced competitor in the team and will compete at his 3rd World Championships on Day 3. This follows on from a Bronze medal at the 2007 European Championships and a Silver medal at the recent Commonwealth Championships as well as medals at the recent Belgian Open A Class, the UTA (GB) Open and the Portuguese Open.

The competitors will be well backed up by members of the new BTCB UK Poomsae Committee who will also attend the event including new Chairman Master Derek Sumner as Head of Team and new Joint National Team Coach Master Gemma Biescas as Head Coach. The whole team will be very well looked after by new National Team Manager Mrs Andrea Brown which will give both the players and the staff the opportunity to focus on the competition and bring back success for the country.

The full team for the event is as follows:

Junior Female Georgina Stalford (Livingwell)
Junior Male Guntur Dwiarmein (Livingwell)
1st Senior Female Melissa McSorley (Livingwell)
1st Senior Male Chan Sau (Halton UTA)
2nd Senior Male Stephane Roth (Livingwell)
2nd Masters Male T.W. Shin (Shins Academy UTA)

1st Pairs Chan Sau / Melissa McSorley

Head of Team Master Derek Sumner
Head Coach Master Gemma Biescas
National Team Manager Andrea Brown