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Stephen Tapilatu – Netherlands

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Stephen 'The Dragon' Tapilatu is a Dutch legend in both ITF and WTF Taekwondo. In the nineties he won three medals in the ITF world championships. Twice he reached the highest attainable in ITF; he became world champion in Canada in 1990 and in Malaysia in 1994.

Stephen is one of the very few Taekwon-do practicioners that has achieved major successes in both ITF as WTF competition. In the WTF 1991 World Championship in Athens, he won a silver medal.

Besides two world titels ITF, Stephen won 2 European titles as well (1990 Davos & 1992 Koszalin), two silver medals in the EC (1991 Reading & 1996 Terracina) and two bronze medals in the EC (1993 Groningen & 1997 Chre).

The prestiguous 'King of Taekwon-do' tournament in Tokyo was won by Stephen two years in a row: 1995 and 1996.

Years before, in 1984, his father Wijnand Tapilatu as a member of the Dutch National Team also won a world title. The Dutch Team became World Champions in team sparring. Stephen is not the only successful Tapilatu family member winning ITF titles. His sister Bianca, and his cousins Django and Pattiparu won many ITF medals as well.

As said before Stephen won the world title in 1990 and 1994. In the motherland of Taekwon-do, DPRK, during the 1992 ITF World Championships Stephen was unfortunately beat by another great Taekwon-do legend in the finals: Hwang Su Il.

After his Taekwondo career, Stephen switched tot the full-contact sports and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). He fought matches against the famous Dutch Karate Champion Ronny Rivano, against Brian Lo An Joe and the former kickboxing world champion: Perry Ubeda.

Stephen holds a 5th degree in ITF Taekwon-do ans was born march 17th 1972 in Groningen.

Internet:
http://www.stephentapilatu.com
http://www.tapilatu-sportcenter.nl

Best performances:
World champion ITF 1990 (Montreal, Canada) – Sparring Male -63 kg
Silver WC WTF 1991 (Athens, Greece) – Sparring Male
Silver WC ITF 1992 (Pyongyang, DPRK) – Sparring Male -63 kg
World champion ITF 1994 (Malaysia) – Sparring Male -63 kg
King of Taekwon-do 1995 (Tokyo, Japan) – Sparring Male
King of Taekwon-do 1996 (Tokyo, Japan) – Sparring Male
Bronze WC ITF 1999 (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – Sparring Male -71 kg

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