State duo don national colours at Asian Taekwondo C’ship

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Tan Yen Ming (centre), flanked by Azizul (left) and Tan after a training session at Sarawak Sukma taekwondo training centre in Petra Jaya recently.

KUCHING: Two taekwondo exponents from Sarawak have been picked to represent the country in the Asian Taekwondo (WTF) Championships 2018 to be held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from May 24 to 28.

The two are Tan Yen Ming and Nurul Hidayah Abdul Karim from Persatuan Taekwondo Negeri Sarawak (PTNS).

PTNS president Azizul Annuar Adenan said Tan’s credentials include winning the gold medal for Malaysia in the 13th ASEAN Taekwondo Championship 2017 and World Taekwondo Malaysia Open G1 Championship 2018.

“He was also the Sukma 2016 taekwondo kyorugi heavyweight champion,” he said.

As for Nurul, Azizul said she was a gold medallist in Sukma 2016 taekwondo poomsae mix-pair category and had represented Malaysia in the 13th ASEAN Taekwondo Championship 2017, SEA Games 2017 and World Taekwondo Malaysia Open G1 Championship 2018.

He said the duo are still eligible to represent the state in Perak Sukma this September.

“It has always been our aim to develop more young talents for top-flight competitions. I am confident our athletes will deliver in both the Asian Taekwondo meet and the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta.

“I hope their success at international level will motivate the rest of the junior athletes to train harder and become eligible to represent the state and nation in the future,” he said.

Azizul said the national squad is led by PTNS technical chairman Tan Check Joon as team manager.

The Sarawakian, who is also Taekwondo Malaysia (WTF) Coaching Board chairman, had also been appointed as national team manager for the pre-Asian Games and Asian Games proper to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia this year.