Hero swears off quitting

Geraldton’s own Jo Licastro has sworn off dreaded thoughts of retirement, after a solid showing at the 12th junior and 7th veteran International Taekwondo Federation world championships, held in Andria, Italy.

Buoyed by her performance — and driven to push further — Licastro confirmed she would compete at the 2018 world championships in Belarus.

Licastro returned home with three medals (silver in both individual and team sparring, along with a bronze in individual patterns) and a bagful of experience which can’t be bought at your local supermarket.

“I was happy with the sparring (individual and team results),” she said “Obviously, there are a few things you can always work on.

“Especially in the team sparring, I was pleased with the result. One of our teammates elected not to compete, so this meant she forfeited all of her fights and myself and my other teammate had to win all of our events. We ended up getting the silver against England, which was a real highlight.

“To get a bronze in individual patterns, was good — but for me, second or third isn’t good enough; but that’s just me — it’s all or nothing (laughs).

“I’m determined to go now to Belarus in 2018. I wasn’t going to originally, but getting so close to winning the gold medal...I’m going after it big time.”

It was also a major tournament for Licastro’s coach, Master Jason Bradley, who was one of 60 umpires selected worldwide to officiate at the event.

His excellent officiating ensured he was selected to adjudicate across all of the finals.

“A total of 36 countries were represented at the championships — including North Korea,” he said.

“The overall country winner was North Korea — they dominate in the juniors. Out of the 36 countries, Australia finished 13th overall (across both juniors and veterans) which is a very good result for us.”

Master Bradley said Australia’s emergence in picking up medals in more junior and senior international events had seen it steadily progress up the rankings.

From a Mid West perspective, a total of 14 athletes have gone on to represent Australia in international taekwondo since 2006.