(Photo World Taekwondo)
The Chuncheon World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships got yesterday with host nation Korea claiming four of the eight gold medals on offer across the individual, pair and team events.
Gahui Seol opened Korea’s account with gold in the Female Cadet category, ahead of Australia’s Ella Kim in second. Bronze medals went to the Philippines’ Joniya Yua Ysabelle Obiacoro and Chinese Taipei’s Yu Shan Chang.
Jihye Park added a second Korean gold in the Female Junior category, defeating China’s Yuqi Li. Ka Ching Ng of Hong Kong, China and the USA’s Elenielle Ong shared bronze.
Jae Young Byeon made it three individual golds for the host nation on day one with victory in the Male Under 17 category, ahead of Mexico’s Miguel Angel Moreno Gomez. Bronze medals were shared between Thailand’s Punnathorn Sirisom and Chinese Taipei’s Chiu-Yang Chao.
Korea also triumphed in the Female Team Under 30 event, where Yubin Shin, Seung Min Yoo and Chae Won Seo took top spot ahead of Iran’s trio of Mahsa Barzegari, Dina Yaghoubi and Razieh Aghaei. Bronze medals were shared between the Philippines and Vietnam.
The USA claimed two golds on day one. Minki Seong won the Male Under 50 title ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Li Chung Wang, with bronze going to Canada’s Reza Rabiei and Korea’s Hak Dong Kim.
Thoa Nguyen and Sungwoo Ha then took gold in the Pair Under 60 event, beating France’s Celine Hery and Farid Begag. Bronze medals were shared between Brazil and Hong Kong, China.
Brazil and Norway also struck gold on day one. Raimundo Renato won the Male Under 65 title, edging out Korea’s Hakgyu Kim, with bronze medals going to Denmark’s Ky-Tu Dang and Türkiye’s Mustafa Yilmaz.
In the Female Under 50 category, Norway’s Anna Kim took gold ahead of Malaysia’s Ester Salimun, with Germany’s Tina Herrmann and Korea’s Eunju Kim sharing bronze.
The Chuncheon 2026 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships run until September 20.
