Taekwondo Olympian attacks referee, proves he is a crybaby

This Cuban "Olympian" is Angel Valodia Matos. Matos was a Sydney 2000 gold medalist. So on he comes to Beijing to compete once more.

In the middle of the second round of his +80kg bout against world silver medalist Arman Chilmanov of Kazakhstan, he broke his left toe. Taekwondo rules will stop the clock for injury for one minute. Any longer and the contestant is deemed unfit to continue. Chong (Red player) took more than that one minute, so the Swedish referee (of Arabic north African decent) declared Hong (Blue player) as the winner.

The Cuban and his coach did not like to lose to Uzbekistan that way, so once the ref announced the verdict, Matos attacked him with two kicks to the head.

Being an Ex-Taekwondo athlete and a life long fan, I watched this live and was appalled and enraged by this violent act of a cry baby sore loser.

The World Taekwondo Federation seemed to share my feelings as they immediately announced that Matos and his coach would be permanently barred from all championships it promotes. They said:

"This is a strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games"

"The sanctions are the following and are effective immediately: Lifetime ban of the coach and athlete in all championships sanctioned by the World Taekwondo Federation and at the same time, all records of this athlete at the Beijing Games will immediately be erased."

Serves him right. Congratulations to the WTF on its swift and stern reaction. And to Matos: You are a disgrace to all Athletes on earth, be they martial artists or else. Your Sydney 2000 medal is undeserved in this light and it is a shame to see it wasted on an arrogant cry baby such as your self.

It is a good thing that we will never see you again. Good riddance.

Aldoys in the USA Open Taekwondo Tournament

Isa and his sister Reem (pictured) flew over to USA to take part in the US Open Taekwondo Tournament. Along was their father & coach (my coach too) Sabumnim, Abdulla Aldoy. This is Isa's first mens competition, although he enters it as a veteran after winning several age group tournaments.
The tournament has players from:

• USA (well, obviously!)
• Bahrain
• Canada
• Germany
• Mexico
• Puerto Rico
• Colombia
• Romania
• Korea
• Kenya
• Brazil
• Nepal

Aldoys are the only ones representing Bahrain and the Arab world. The full roster of players are found here.
According to the website, it should have been finished yesterday, but I can't find for the life of me any results posted on line at all. It's like everyone is busy with the tournament to post anything and the media is busy with other sports. Shame that.
I wish them good luck and if anyone knows anything about it, please leave a comment. Thanks.

Final day of Tournament

I arrived at the Umm Ahasam Sports arena next day and found several of my old training buddies. I miss the tournament atmosphere.
Sadly our guys didn't win golds as usual today. Why? Make up your own mind. I managed to capture Habib's last fight on my P990i. But You tube said it was too long. I'll try to split it up. Anyone know a good video editor for PC?


So he wins at the end of Round 3, ref gives him a 1 point penalty to return his score to zero equalling his opponent (score 0 after three penalties). They go into sudden death and some how his opponent wins.

This is what Sabumnim Aldoy had to say:



They are champions so no big deal. They won medals before and will continue to win many more. All the best to them.

The tournament was chaotic and messy. True that allot of people will say that most TKD tournaments are like that but that's not an excuse. It could have easily been given to an event manager. And why not hire marshals? volunteers. They'd do it for free like the F1 does. Heck I would have done it.

Still it was a very good effort as a first and I can not wait for the 2nd tournament!

Bahrain's First Open Taekwondo Tournament

Bahrain is enjoying it's first Open Taekwondo Tournament (BMAA website). It opened the day before yesterday and had it's children & women competitions yesterday. Today is the men's competitions.
I used to do TKD with Aldoy's club. Obviously I stopped at a Redbelt, but I try to follow up on the club's news and participations.
The tournament lists 400 players which isn't a small feat. Countries I saw were Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Iran& Iraq.
The Irani team is always tough so it'll be intresting to see them. I heard rumors about the Iraqi team enrolling players older than what they declared them to be. I am not sure but I did see one player get disqualified, and they do look a bit taller then the rest of the kids.
Now Aldoy's TKD is famous for being tough competitors. They have a solid Women team, and the fact that they got most of the women medals isn't surprising really. The first day results can be found here in Arabic. I'm off to see the rest of the clashes today, if you have the time, drop by the Umm Alhasam sports dome just off Adliya.

Pictures, top to bottom:

1-Part of the women matches
2-Part of the kid matches
3-Sabumnim Aldoy taking to the ref. between rounds
4-The Doy Girls team
5-Salman Yousef, Doy's team Black belt

Taekwondo Competitions today. BAHRAIN GO!

If you were ever wondering what am I a redbelt in, its WTF Taekwondo.

I had the pleasure to study under the amazing referee and coach, Sabumnim Abdulla Aldoy. I had to quit before I attain my black belt due to work and mixed schedules. But TKD will always be in my blood.

I am still loyal to the Black & Yellow Aldoy's TKD Centre in Riffa. I'm glad that most of our team consists of their members.

They will start at 2:30 PM, I am wishing them luck with all my heart.