Lau and Chloe pose for a photo with her gold medal.
SIBU (Aug 15): Two Sarawakians have won gold medals at the Chuncheon Korea Open International Taekwondo Championship in South Korea.
Rising star Chloe Lau Zhi Qi and schoolmate Travis Teo Zia Zhen, both 14 from Lodge International School in Kuching, collected a gold medal each in the individual U-15 poomsae women’s and men’s events respectively.
“Í am extremely happy to win the gold medal and will also cherish all the experience that I encountered in Korea, the culture, and the food that I tasted,” Chloe said when contacted.
She took up taekwondo at the age of 10 in 2019.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Chloe practiced the sport online and only got to train properly in 2022.
Since then, she has put in tremendous effort and energy to polish her rhythm and movement.
Lau is the daughter of Dato Sri Lau Kueng Chai, Chuncheon Korea Open Event Preparatory Committee vice chairman and Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) Advisory Committee member.
When contacted, Lau said he was thankful Chloe won the gold medal despite facing tough opponents from around the world.
He revealed that he had engaged two Korean coaches to guide Chloe during her stay in Korea and the move reaped results.
“Overall, the results were great and excellent and should significantly spur and motivate the young gold medalists, who are making their international debuts to train harder and aim higher,” he said.
“This was not an easy championship as none of our senior players made it to the final round and that speaks volumes about the standard of the game.”
Lau plays an instrumental role in the promotion of taekwondo between Malaysia and Korea, the birthplace of taekwondo.
For his contributions to the sport, he was also invited to present prizes to the winners at the Chuncheon Korea Open.
The Malaysian squad also won two bronze medals.
A total of 3,500 exponents from 63 countries took part in the open championship.