The UK Armed Forces’ top fighters have gathered in Portsmouth for the 2025 Inter Services Martial Arts Championships, with titles up for grabs in Taekwondo, Karate, Weapons Kata and Kendo.
These championships included two different forms of Taekwondo, one of which is WT (World Taekwondo) which is the Olympic form of the popular martial art.
One athlete, Guardsman Thandukukhanya Dlamini of 1st Battalion Scots Guards, has big aspirations of competing in WT for his home country, Eswatini, at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Olympic hopeful took on the Royal Navy’s Able Seaman Elliott Peck in the men’s WT, but was forced to settle for the silver medal behind the Navy fighter.
The Army’s Private Grace Cole of 2 Medical Regiment proved to be a true all-around athlete in both the WT and the ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) forms of Taekwondo, after she won the women’s dan sparring in both forms.
She said: “It’s been a really positive day, obviously there’s been positive feedback from the ITF fight and the WT fight, so I’m happy, especially coming off the Army Championships as well, so it’s been a really good day overall.
The Royal Navy’s Able Seaman Robbie Sheppard, based at HMNB Clyde, dominated the ITF men’s categories, winning every fight he had entered, and now he has aspirations to enter the international circuit in the future.
He said: “I’d love to get back onto the international circuit and try and go away for the European and the world titles and try and keep doing it as much as I possibly can, and try and help out the others in the team as well.”
The competition turnout for Karate was also very strong at this year’s Inter Services.
One of the oldest competitors in the competition is Warrant Officer 1 Hayley Hall, who had just returned from winning gold at the WUKF World Karate Championships in Sweden.
But this time at the Inter Services, she won individual silver and helped the Army women to the team title.
She said: “It was a really excellent experience and I came away as world champion for the sixth time, which I’m really, really happy about.
“It’s such a game changer to compete at that high level, we can train in the dojo all day long, but until you’re on those mats in a massive arena, there’s no feeling like it.”
In the men’s competition, the RAF’s Corporal Jon McGorian dominated by winning the men’s individual title and helping the RAF men win the team title.
He is set to make his final international appearance at the JKS European Cup in Denmark in September before he plans to step back from competitive Karate for good.
He said: “It’s been good and it’s been a long time coming, and it’s been good to get the RAF back to winning ways.
“For me, I’ve done this now for well over 12 years, and this is the third individual title I’ve won.
“I compete for JKS England, and so we’ve got the JKS European Cup, that’s being held in Denmark in September this year, so last few preparations are going into that, and hopefully I can go out of my competition career on a high.”
