Gisborne Taekwondo duo Kyan Samartzis and Trent Amram shone at the seventh Gold Coast Open taekwondo championships.
Competing at the event for the first time, Kyan, 11, and Trent, 10, both walked away with medals late last month, Kyan with two golds and a silver, Trent with a silver.
The Gisborne school’s head instructor, Glyn Thomas, said there had been high hopes for the boys at the event despite the fact they had not competed at that level previously.
“With more than 500 competitors, it’s the biggest competition they’d been at,” Thomas said.
“With Kyan, I had good confidence in him. He hurt his foot in his first fight but still came back to win. He won the next division, too, even with the sore foot.”
Next for the pair will be the Victorian championships, which double as selection trials for the Victorian squad for the national titles in August.
Thomas says he’s hopeful the Gisborne squad can add to the list of state and national champions the club has boasted in previous years.
“First, second and third from the selections go on to represent Victoria,” the instructor said.
“There’s been more than 35 national champions and more than 50 state champs from Gisborne since I started out here in 2001.”
