Docherty's treble success
CIARAN Docherty made it a hat-trick of Scottish Grand Champion titles with another exceptional performance at the Scottish Championships.
Part of a 17-strong squad from Inverness Tang Soo Do that made the trip to the competition at Lossiemouth, Docherty took first place in the following black belt categories — bo staff weapons forms, knife forms, sword forms, traditional forms and sparring.
Having scored the most points in all his individual categories, the 15-year-old, from Smithton, won the prestigious Scottish Male Black Belt Grand Champion crown for a third successive time.
Docherty’s success was just one of many for the city club, who took home 34 trophies in total — 12 firsts, 11 seconds and 11 third Places.
"The team’s performance was amazing and the day was concluded with an entertaining final round of black belt Sparring between Ciaran Docherty and Jamie Anderson," said Master Kelly O’Connor, of Inverness Tang Soo Do.
"It was like a replay of last year’s final between these two rivals with neither of them prepared to back down.
"The round lasted almost five minutes, but they were tied on points, so this meant the match into additional time. "However, the pair still could not be separated, so eventually the match went to sudden death where the first scored point won the match.
"It was close, but Ciaran ensured that he retained his sparring title by scoring the last point with a side kick to the head."
The other winning members from Inverness Tang Soo Do were:
Black Belts: Jamie Anderson — 2 bo staff, forms, sparring. Ross Maclennan — 1 sword; 3 bo staff, knife forms, sparring. Arizona Morence — 2 knife forms, sparring, sword. Lisa Forsyth — 3 forms.
Cho Dan Bo’s: Aaron Stirratt — 1 bo staff; 2 sparring; 3 forms,
Red Belts: Abigail Ross — 2 forms, 3 sparring.
Brown Belts: Rowen Anderson — 1 bo Staff, forms; 3 sparring. Scot Maclennan — 1 sparring; 2 forms. Cameron Wheeler — 1 nunchaku forms. Jemma Wheeler — 1 sparring
Green Belts: Ceiran Fagan — 3 forms, sparring. David Oddy — 2 forms.
Orange Belts: Christopher Giubarelli — 2 bo staff, sparring; 3 forms.
Rhys Davies, Mark Webster and Laura Stewart were also part of the Inverness Tang Soo Do squad, but did not manage to come home with a trophy, despite their best efforts.
