23 clubs compete in junior taekwondo championship

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Dr Mehinder and Mark Fisher celebrate with Koryo Taekwondo Club that won the Junior Taekwondo Championship.

KUALA LUMPUR: The 12th Nestle KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship 2017 reached its climax with high octane action at the grand finals at Stadium Badminton Kuala Lumpur in Cheras.

A Nestle press statement yesterday revealed that a total of 330 medal winners from 23 clubs competed for the coveted Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Tunku Imran Challenge Trophy.

Of the 330 participants, 90 represented the Central region, 74 were from the Southern region, 85 from Northern region, 73 from East Coast region, and eight from Singapore.

The grand finals was participated by 147 girls and 183 boys with 154 exponents aged 7-9 years old and 176 aged 10-12 years old.

The overall championship this year saw a total of 2,000 participants from Malaysia and Singapore, and is now an annual event on the Taekwondo Malaysia (WTF) calendar.

According to the statement, Koryo Taekwondo Club regained the Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Tunku Imran Challenge Trophy after losing the title last year.

Koryo which came in a close second last year to Johor-based Skid Taekwondo Club clinched the trophy this year with 12 gold, eight silver and 23 bronze.

Skid finished second with six gold, six silver and eight bronze while Perak-based RSB Taekwondo Club was third with four gold, four silver and two bronze.

Singapore’s Gleb Chaykun won the boys’ 10-12 best performance award while Nur Allisa Soreya of Koryo was the girls’ best performance winner.

The winners for the 7-9 best performance awards were Koryo’s Ainol Sufi Reduwan (boys) and Venessa Laveenia Axton (girls).

Director of Sports Division, Ministry of Education, Dr Mehander Singh said the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013 – 2025 encouraged the holistic development of students by providing them the opportunity to develop their talent and interests outside the classroom.

“This shift reinforces the requirement for every student to participate in 1 sport, 1 Club and 1 Uniformed Body,” Dr Mehander said.

“What we are witnessing here today is the implementation of this vision through the support of Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® and Taekwondo Malaysia. I am happy to note that 2,000 young Malaysians competed in the championship this year,” he said when officiating at the medal presentation and closing ceremony.

“This is a great achievement that would not have been possible if not for the commitment of Nestlé Malaysia and Taekwondo Malaysia. We are glad to see that Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® is contributing to the development of Malaysia’s youth with this competition,” he added.

Later business executive of nestle Breakfast Cereals Malaysia, Mark Fisher said the recent ‘MyBreakfast Study’ jointly conducted by Nestlé Breakfast Cereals and Nutrition Society Malaysia found that 1 in 3 Malaysian school children have low physical activity levels, and 1 in 4 children were overweight or obese.

The study also showed that girls had lower physical activity levels than boys, although boys were more likely to be overweight and obese.

“We are pleased the Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship offers young boys and girls in the country an opportunity to participate in this sports, and we see this as our contribution in helping encourage children to be more active through sports,” Mark said.