This week at Ely & Witchford Tang Soo Do we presented many of our students with their new Gup grades earned at the recent GBTSDA South Cambs grading. 

Held at One Leisure St Ives sports centre on Sunday 22^nd March, the grading brought together students from across South Cambridgeshire to be tested in front of a panel of WTSDA masters over seen by the ever watchful eyes of KCN Khan, assistant Grandmaster of the WTSDA, founder and chief instructor of GBTSDA.  

A total of 15 students from the club took part in the grading at all levels from beginner white belt through to senior red belt. Our students range in age from young primary school age through college age to adults and parents. 

Our students always give their best, often recognised by the judging panel for their level of performance. This time one of our youngest students, Alicja, was awarded the most improved award for the Brown belt category, condidered the half way point on a students journey to black belt. 

Also noted was the contribution, by the club, to the grading itself, with our senior instructors serving on the judging panels as well as our Dan grades conducting the Green and Red categories, leading breaking teams, supporting and guiding the junior grades being tested and also taking part in partner and group testing. 

These photos are after the students have received their new belts in class, no photos are taken during the grading because of child protection and safeguarding rules observed by GBTSDA. 

After a period of time more focused on our higher ranked students with a flood of senior gup and black belt gradings in recent years we are now seeing more new students coming through shifting the dynamics of our classes back towards the younger and lower grades. This is giving our trainee instructors plenty of experience with new recruits.

As usual there were four gup gradings this years, with the latest being only a couple of weeks ago with student representation in all the belt categories from white belts through to senior red.

Christmas Training / Social & Students of the Year

Following tradition our last training session in Wilburton is an oppurtunity for friends and family to come along and see an example of our training. Afterwards everyone tucked into party food and drink brought along to share.

This year we also awarded our inaugural Student of the Year trophies, voted for by all the students, this went to Susie Morris and Will Dockerill for their achievements, dedication and contributions to the club throughout 2025.

Also on display was the impressive collection of trophies and medals accumulated by our students at this year’s National, Regional and European Championships as well as last year’s World Championship. The centre piece of which was Susie’s Gup Grand Champion trophy from the regionals.

Championships

This year students attended three championships, the Nationals in Nottingham, the Europeans in Greece and the Regionals in Ebbw Vale, Wales. Everyone who attended put in a lot of effort both in the preparations and on the day, and their achievements reflect that.

Below is a hightlight video of the years championships.

Here are the results:

Looking Forward

Every one of our students will face new challenges in 2026, junior grades will transition through the belts learning new forms and techniques, higher grades will be challenged to perfect their knowledge while passing it on to the juniors.

Championships this year will be the usual Nationals in Nottingham and the Regionals in Coventry, and not forgetting that 2026 is World Championship year with some students heading to Chicago as part of the GB team.

Topping off another successful year, last weekend saw 11 of our students travel to Ebbw Vale in the Welsh Valleys for the GBTSDA Regional Championships. Joining hundreds of Tang Soo Do students from GBTSDA clubs across the nation to compete in weapons, individual and team Hyungs (forms), and sparring.

The highlight of our success was Susie Morris, a local childminder and mum, collecting three individual 1sts. Competing as a red-tag belt, Susie is only one step away from becoming a black belt candidate. Susie was crowned the Gup Grand Champion by BKCN Khan, assistant Grandmaster of the World Tang Soo Do Association (WTSDA), for the best overall performance in the Gup (coloured belt) divisions. On top of this, she also combined with Rich and Phillippa to obtain a well-deserved 3rd place for their team form.

Despite having very little time to practice together due to school and college work, our young black belts Jakub, Emily and Will pulled off an impressive 1st place in the Dan (black belt) team form category.

Any of our students can represent us at national and regional championships. This time our team ranged from 10 to 50 years old, from green belt right through to 2nd Dan black belt, and from all walks of life. Three of our students were competing for the first time, including our youngest Alicja, all of them giving their best. No doubt several of them will go on to represent GBTSDA at the WTSDA World Championships in Chicago next July.

Their overall achievement was 5 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze in the individual divisions.

The European Championships took place in Athens, Greece, on the 11th October 2025. Our students, Philippa, Nathan, Susie, and Rich, along with Master G Russell and Master R Russell, joined the GBTSDA national team to compete against teams from other European countries as well as some from further afield.

The GB team departed Heathrow on Wednesday, 8th October.

As well as the Competition on Saturday, there were training sessions and seminars before and after.

As they usually do, Master G & Master R Russell attended the EMC, our assistant and trainee instructors joined them for the Clinic.

The clinic starts with KCN Strong and BKCN Khan leading senior and junior grades, split into two groups. After this, everyone is free to choose four seminar sessions on:

• Escrima drills
• Bong one steps
• Close-quarter self-defence
• Sparring psychology
• Hapkido
• Pad combinations
• Boxercise
• HiiT kicking combos

This is only a sample of the photos taken on the day; more can be found at GBTSDA Facebook page:

Photos by Master Islam GBTSDA

All of us at Ely & Witchford Tang Soo Do would like to congratulate Asst. Grandmaster Mujahid Khan, 8th Dan of the World Tang Soo Do Association and Chief Instructor of Great Britain Tang Soo Do, on being honoured with the British Empire Medal (B.E.M.) for his service and contribution to Tang Soo Do in the King’s Birthday Honour List!

KCN Khan has over 50 years’ experience in martial arts and achieved his 1st dan black belt in 1977 and went on to form the GBTSDA in 1984. He continues to train and instruct through Huntingdon & St Ives Tang Soo Do, inspiring the next generation of martial artists.

While we think of ourselves as a small local club, we are part of GBTSDA, and our instructors and senior grades train regularly with KCN Khan. He continues to lead and inspire us to better ourselves and those we teach. A very humble man who continuously demonstrates the Tang Soo spirit. He is not only our KCN and Chief Instructor, he is our teacher, leader, coach, training partner and friend. An honour well deserved.

Organised by Master Dawn Khan, Master Noreen Khan, and Master Harvey.

On Saturday, 26th April 2025, we competed in the 41st GBTSDA (Great Britain Tang Soo Do Assoc) 2025 National Championships at the David Ross Sports Village, Nottingham University.

Our team of 12 joined almost 380 competitors from around the country to compete in categories of weapons (bo-staff, dagger, and sword), sparring, individual hyungs and team hyungs at gup and dan levels. Supported by family, friends, other club students, and instructors.

In addition to competing, many senior-grade students and instructors assisted the event as timekeepers, scorekeepers, judges, and other roles, donating their time to ensure a safe and enjoyable competition for all participants.

Since the 2024 Nationals, many of our students have been promoted in grade, so the standard of competition for them was much higher this year, but they all rose to the challenge and achieved great results. Most notably, Miss Holmes not only moved from the junior to the 17+ adult category but also rose in rank this year to 2nd dan, putting her in the 17+ ladies 2nd/3rd dan division, quite possibly the toughest division of the competition.

The day started with the weapons divisions, here the team had success with Mr Oliver Russell being awarded 1st for sword, Ms Laura Vanhulle a 1st for bo-staff and Mr Dockerill a 2nd, just missing out on a 1st in bo-staff in a very close division. Our 2nd gup ladies then all proceeded to gain podium positions with Susie Morris and Philippa Collins both gaining 2nds while Kate Latimer scored a 3rd place in bo-staff.

Midday saw the official opening of the Championships, led by KCN Khan, head of GBTSDA and 8th dan Assistant Grandmaster of the WTSDA (World Tang Soo Do Assoc).

As holder of the 2024 Gup Grand Champion award, Greg Ozog returned the cup for this year’s competitors to aspire to.

Sadly Greg was not competing in this year’s competition to defend the title. However, he still managed to come away with an award for being part of the most productive ring of the day, acting as timekeeper for gup divisions.

This year, we entered two teams into the team hyungs competition. Mr Oroz, Miss Holmes, and Miss Rutherford competed in the dan category while Susie, Philipa, and Kate competed in the gup category. Competition is always tough, especially in the dan category, but we were successful with a 3rd place in the gup category, repeating their success from the 2023 National Championships.

In the afternoon gup session Rich Morris (5th gup) achieved a 1st in sparring, despite nursing an injured knee followed by our three red belt ladies each picking up a sparring trophy: Susie Morris (1st), Kate Latimer (2nd) and Philippa Collins (3rd). Nathan Morris then proceeded to also score in sparring with a 3rd place position.

Ms Vanhulle is also a previous National & Regional Gup Grand Champion, and was competing for the first time since being awarded her 1st Dan black belt at the beginning of 2025. Facing a stronger dan division, she again produced a top performance to gain 1st’s in weapons and hyungs and a 3rd in sparring. Another first for Ms Vanhulle was serving as a scorekeeper for gup divisions.

Mr Dockerill successfully added a 1st place in hyungs to this earlier 2nd in weapons.

Miss Rutherford returned to the Nationals this year after a break in 2024 to take her GCSEs, now also competing in dan divisions she pulled off an impressive 1st in sparring and 3rd in hyungs.

Mr J Ozog faced a tough division but still manage to come away with a 3rd in hyungs, like other senior grades, he also served as scorekeeper.

Mr O Russell achieved great results by taking 1st’s in weapons (sword) and hyungs before running into very tough competition in the sparring in possibly the most physically demanding division. Mr Russell also continued to serve as a judge for gup divisions.

In addition to competing, our instructors and students help with the running of the day. Master G Russell continues to expand her judging experience as a corner judge and center judge for both dan and gup competition rings, while Master R Russell is responsible for the organisation of trophies. Mr Rutherford, while also competing, acted as score keeper throughout the day.

On Sunday 16th March, Cooper, Alicja, Rich & Kate, representing Ely & Witchford Tang Soo Do, successfully graded to their next belts. Cooper, Alicja & Rich attained the rank of 5th Gup (Green Tag) while Kate attained her 2nd Gup (Red) belt as well as being presented with the most improved award within her grade. Kate is now two grades away from being Cho Dan Bo (Black Belt Candidate).

The grading took place Huntingdon sports centre in front of a grading panel of senior GBTSDA (Great Britain Tang Soo Do Assoc) masters under the watchful eyes of BKCN Khan, assistant Grandmaster and European regional director of the WTSDA (World Tang Soo Do Assoc), head of GBTSDA.

During the grading each student must demonstrate their level of fitness and mastery of their techniques consisting of combinations of strikes, blocks and kicks, as well as sparring and self-defence techniques. Kate also had to show proficiency with a bo-staff weapon. Prior to the physical test they also all took written tests in Korean terminology.

Focus for Rich and Kate now shifts to preparing for next month’s National Championships in Nottingham.

Their achievements were also covered in the Ely Standard local paper:

Photos by Master Islam GBTSDA, Master G Russell & Susie Morris