Daventry Tigers Taekwondo
We strive to get you from White Belt to Black Belt with the best possible grade.
2025
Black Belt Grading
November 2025
Just 3 students from Daventry took their black belts in the Autumn black belt grading exam. However, it was lovely to see all 3 performing well and attaining their Dan Grades. They all looked good on the floor in front of the panel of Grand Masters.
Well done to Tom Lewington on achieving his 2nd Dan, and to Fabio Simoes and Daryl Dunkley for gaining their 1st Dans. Great achievement.
As always, we made a little 'Road to Black Belt' video for each of our new black belts:
Taekwondo International World Championships
July 2025
Eight students from Daventry Tigers TKD headed up to the Braehead Arena in Glasgow for the Taekwondo International World Championships 2025 at the weekend with hopes of glory and big shiny medals! It was a spectacular tournament, with an impressive opening ceremony and huge divisions. Teams from over 20 countries took part with over 2,200 competitors battling it out for medals across the weekend.
Two Daventry students in particular made a massive mark on the tournament – Sofiia Cross in the Ladies Yellow Belts and Sian Hartwell in the Cadet Green Belts.
Having just turned 18-years-old a few weeks ago, Sofiia started the day with the Ladies Individual Patterns, winning the event outright, with no need for a medal play-off. Then it was straight back on the same square for the Ladies Lightweight Sparring, which again she never looked like losing. Double individual Gold was a great start, but she wasn’t finished yet. Joining with friends she had made at previous tournaments, she also took Golds in the Ladies Yellow/Green Tag team sparring and mixed Men/Ladies synchronised Team Patterns events, making it a clean sweep of all four available World titles!
In the Cadet girls Green Belts, Sian Hartwell started the day in similar fashion, winning the patterns event outright and then fighting through a truly international field to win the Individual sparring event. She fought a German in the first round, a Canadian in the second, and Polish girls in the Semi-final and Final. Later, she too added a Tag Team sparring Gold, but missed out on a medal in the Team Patterns.
Everyone from Daventry performed well. Kaden Roche, Isabella Sills and Charlotte Dunkley brought home Bronze from the very tough Black Belt Junior Team patterns event, having all scored well, but not medalled in the Individual events. Isabella also added a Silver in Tag Team sparring to the tally. Daryl Dunkley, James Lewington and Tom Lewington also competed well, but finished outside the medal positions.
Overall medal tally: 7 Golds, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze medals.
Black Belt Grading
April 2025
Also, Gina and Andrew both from Woodford Halse club, and Selina from Daventry, all passed their 2nd Dan gradings. Well done to them too. Gina was singled out for particular praise by GM Donnelly, who commended the effort she had given during the grading.
Many congratulations to our two newly promoted 1st Degree Black Belts, Robin and Oisin.
They performed really well in their grading, and their new belts were thoroughly deserved.
Here's a little video we made of our new first Dans, showing their journey to black belt:
Finally, Mr Robson himself took his 5th Dan, and was presented with his certificate by GM David Oliver himself, who took the opportunity to say a few kind words too.
Daventry Tigers Mark Robson 5th Dan presentation GM Oliver
Matty Moore Visit
World Champion 4th Dan
March 2025
Visits by such high calibre performers are always inspirational, and this one was certainly no exception. Our grading award winner was particularly inspired by Matty, and worked really hard on his TKD after that, catching the Grand Master's eye at the next grading as he wanted to be like Matty.
It was wonderful to have the irrepressible Matty Moore come and visit Daventry this month. Students were treated to some fantastic demonstration patterns and most enjoyable training sessions as he spent time in the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced classes.
There are more photos from the event at Matty Moore visit | Daventry Tigers TKD
English Championships
March 2025
Twelve students from Daventry and Woodford Halse headed off to Worcester to compete for medals at the English Championships this month.
Again, they produced a good medal haul, bringing home 2 Golds, 9 Silver and 9 Bronze medals between them. What’s perhaps more important is that they all thoroughly enjoyed the day, with several excellent debut performances.
Coloured Belt Grading
January 2025
On 31st January, Daventry hosted our first coloured belt grading exam of the year. Forty students performed in front of Grand Master David Oliver (Chairman of the TAGB) and all were successful in progressing, with a large number of students gaining A* and A Grade passes.
Grand Master Oliver’s ‘Best in Grading’ Award went to one of the newcomer White Belts, who very much looks to be a future star in the making.
Midlands Championships
January 2025
Daventry sent a small team of competitors to the Midlands Championships this year, and it was good to see that all of our students had a great time, bringing back a good number of medals.
Highlight performances were from Sian Hartwell, who brought home 3 Golds and a Silver, and Mel Coupe, who won Gold in the Ladies Individual Sparring on her debut!
