Six-year-old Rique-Lee Rosalia-Liu won two gold medals at the 25th Puerto Rico International Open Taekwondo Tournament this weekend. He returned with his team of 12 athletes. In total the group earned 14 gold medals, nine silver and one bronze.
St. Maarten was also named Best International Team.
First-timer Rique-Lee Rosalia-Liu, the youngest of the team, did very well and won first place with two gold medals. Forms plus sparring, said Grandmaster Theo Liu. “In sparring he had to fight in his category twice behind each other to become the champ.”
Two other athletes from the King Yen Taekwondo School under the direction of the Grandmaster also earned two gold medals. Nineteen-year-old Lee-Ann Liu, a black belt, and eight-year-old Myles Holiday struck gold twice.
Winning a gold in forms and a silver in sparring were Joel Louisa, Reomar Jeffers, Jaak Mo and Kimberly Sabajo. Geisha-Lee Rosalia-Liu earned gold in forms and bronze in sparring. Taking gold in sparring and silver in forms were Ivyanne Louisa, Charlene Haripersaud and Leomar Dolphin.
Ten-year-old green belt Mahaila Antiles Gadishaw earned two silver medals.
A total of 337 athletes representing the Dominican Republic, the US Virgin Islands, St. Maarten and host Puerto Rico competed in the tournament.
The team travelled with eight officials, including therapist Paulien Vuijst. Despite St. Maarten’s economic downturn, this trip to an international tournament in solidarity with storm-devastated Puerto Rico was made possible by NAGICO Insurances N.V., Euro Caribbean Linkup N.V., Oriental Caribbean Insurances (OCI), Guardian Group – Fatum N.V,, The Wizard computer services, Intermar, Gulf Insurance Ltd, and AVIS.