Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
THE national taekwondo team marked their return to the global stage with a haul of one gold and one bronze at the 2023 Seongnam World Taekwondo Hanmadang.
Juliana Abas finished the top of the podium for the gold in the Long Jump Kick Junior 2 category with a height of 200cm on Saturday.
Mexico and Boliva followed behind at the Seongnam Gymnasium.
The bronze medal was from the Team Authorised Poomsae event.
It consists of three rounds per match - individual, pair and team.
They overcame Mongolia 3-0 in the preliminary round before edging China in the last-eight.
The Sultanate were then stopped in their tracks 2-1 in the semi-finals against Hong Kong A.
Ahmad Zahid Borhan edged his opponent 7.77 - 7.76 in the individual event before siblings Hyde Nathania and Nachman Hijium lost the pairs 8.00 - 8.03.
The trio then combined for the team but were edged 7.77 - 7.97 to see them share the bronze with Canada.
Regardless, Nathania was satisfied with their achievement.
"As the first prestigious tournament we partake this year since 2019, we are grateful with the results that we achieved," said Nathania in an interview with BruSports News.
"With that, we are thrilled to train harder for upcoming competitions and get better results," she concluded.
A total of 57 countries are contesting in the July 21-24 competition in South Korea.
