Friday, July 4, 2008

Fort Washington native Charles Smith Jr. won the gold medal in the senior finweight (118.9 pounds) division of the National Taekwondo Championships in Detroit on Wednesday and will prepare to qualify for the Pan American championships this fall.

Battling flu-like symptoms and sneezing throughout the championship match, Smith defeated Johnny Nguyen of Tempe, Ariz., 6-3. Smith said the first two rounds were "kind of edgy." He spent most of the day coughing and felt as though he were going to vomit during the match.

Smith, 23, said the turning point came when he recalled words from his father, Charles Sr., a 20-year Marine Corps veteran who retired as a master sergeant. "My dad always talks about how real champions always show who they are in the final match," Smith said.

In the quarterfinal round, Smith beat teammate Jamiel Roberson, a training partner at Remarck Sport Taekwondo in Alexandria, 12-8. Smith defeated four opponents in all en route to his second senior national title.

Next, Smith will attempt to earn a berth into October's Pan American championships at a qualifier camp in Colorado Springs in September.

Brandi Powers, 18, of Baltimore also claimed a gold medal Wednesday. She won the female middleweight division by defeating Sanaz Shahbazi of San Jose.

Four other local competitors finished in second place in their respective divisions. Rockville natives Emilia Morrow, 15, and Christina Johnson, 18, were runners-up in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, respectively. On the men's side, Thomas Lee, 17, of Rockville and Cody Thongtavee, 17, of Alexandria took home second place in the lightweight and middleweight divisions, respectively.

-- Steve Yanda