Jemesa Landers tells us about her recent participation at the Presidents Cup and Oceania Championships.

A team of 15 athletes travelled from New Zealand to French Polynesia last month to compete in the 2018 Presidents Cup and Oceania Championships. Our team was small compared to other countries, but we made up for it when one of the Kyorugi coaches took out gold in the Poomsae and would later go on to also win gold in Oceanias. The heat was a disadvantage, and all of the NZ fighters did their very best in spite of it. I was up against Australia first, and was not able to take away the W but I did manage to stay on my feet despite blacking out in the first round. Oceanias rolled around after a days break and the heat turned up. Being up in the first round, I got too comfortable and by the third round, we were point for point. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to come up from being 4 points behind and the clock ran out, leaving me exhausted. Overall, being my first international tournament, it was an incredible experience and has taught me a lot. I’m grateful for everyone who enabled me to go and be able to compete, and I’m looking forward to the next one!

Jemesa Landers