St Martins Taekwondo Academy (SMTA) had a memorable debut at the Catania International Open, held recently at the PalaCatania hall, as their promising martial artists returned home with four medals – one of which gold.

This international meeting had an entry list of more than 700 athletes, hailing from five different countries.

SMTA’s team members were all making their first showing at this level of competition. They included Amani and IIyas Faraoun, Katrina Vella, Asia Knights and Joel Genuis.

Before the trip to Sicily, the team followed an intensive training programme, conducted by head instructor Joseph Azzopardi and his assistant Pierre Genuis.

Amani Faraoun won the 30kgs cadets title in Sicily and Genuis was the runner-up in the 68kgs competition.

Ilyas Faraoun was also a silver medal winner in the 20kgs Peewee Category, and Vella finished third in the 27kgs Peewee Category tournament.

The Catania Open scoring system was based on the TK-Strike PSS Protector and scoring format to conform with the current WTF competition rules.

These regulations deliver a clear and precise scoring format and encourage young martial artists to produce better and more spectacular techniques as is synonymous with taekwondo – a fast-evolving Olympic sport.