The 2010 ITF World Championships were held in Cheongju, South Korea, July 4th to 8th. James Dwyer & Paul Manning along with other members of Taekwon-Do Ireland, Stephen Nyhan, Oliver McCarthy and Catherine O'Sullivan and Coach Mr Micheal Burke, traveled as part of Team Ireland to the event. Every one had to register & weight in on July 2nd and after that we had a few days of waiting before the senior sparring started. Catherine was first one of the team to fight on Tuesday evening and put in a great preformance to beat her Scottish oppenent in the first round. She was beaten by an argentenian in her next fight. Her oppenrnt went on to become world champion. On Wednesday morning, Stephen was the first of the men to fight in the light-weight division and after clearly dominating his Japanese opponent the Judges baffled everyone watching by awarding the decision against him. Paul was up next in the light-weight division and easily defeated his South Korean oppenent. Next up was the current European Champion from England. He had already beaten Paul in Zaragoza this year but this time Paul got the better of him to get through to the quarter finals to face a German fighter. Again Paul fought through a tough bout to secure a place in the Semi Finals. After a very close fight the Argentinean beat him by a single point so Paul had to settle for a Bronze medal.It was now James's turn in the middle-weights and he easily dispatched a fighter from Greece . James was in the form of his life easily beating another two fighters from Argentina and England to get into the semi-final. The semi-final, against another argentinian was a very close fight and the Irish supporters went wild when James took the decision and made it to the final. Oliver was leading against his Russian opponent  in the welter-weight division before he got taken down by a fierce punch that fractured his eye socket. A a result he spent the remainder of the day in hospital. It was a great shame but Oliver is a fantastic fighter will bounce back from this set back.The team sparring and Finals were held on the next day (Thursday 8th). Catherine fought on the ladies team, who despite picking up  a lot of injuries, managed to secure 3rd place and a bronze medal. James took Olivers place on the mens sparring team and fought in every round, remaining undefeated until the semi finals against Argentina. He had secured his first medal of the day as the team took Bronze. The finals of the individual sparring were on in the afternoon. James was up against an English fighter. He came at James strong during the first round but once he got in front there was no stopping James and he was crowned World Champion. Following the medal ceremony we finally got the chance to relax after a whole year of training and preparation. Everyone on the team would like to thank our coach, Mr Micheal Burke, for all his help and support. A big thanks also, to everyone in Taekwon-Do Ireland, and Family & friends for their support during the fundraising efforts through-out the past year.