On May 11, the Virgin Islands Taekwondo Federation celebrated a great moment as its female heavy weight Danese Joseph won a gold medal at the Canada Open 2012 held in Toronto, Canada. The Canada Open is held from May 10-12 and is G1 rated Tournament by the World Taekwondo Federation, the official Taekwondo governing body of the International Olympic Committee.
It was a double elimination competition where there were over 700 athletes competing from 20 nations. Joseph won her first round 14 –1 over an athlete from Canada. She won her second round by sudden death against Puerto Rico and won the gold by her opponent, who was the loser from the first round bowing out of the match due to injury.
She has been on the national team for the past two years and has competed in the Pan Am Taekwondo Games in Peru, The CAC games in Mayaquez Puerto Rico and the Taekwondo World Championships in Korea. This year she has competed in her regional AAU Taekwondo Championship qualifiers where she won gold and now qualifies for the AAU Taekwondo Nationals to July 2-7 in Florida.
Joseph continues to train with her coach in preparation for the Pan Am Taekwondo Championships in Bolivia during Oct. 10-14.
