Two Koreans display 'perfect' taekwondo forms
Bae Jeong-beom performs in the taekwondo men’s individual poomsae event, Tuesday. Bae won the gold. / Courtesy of GUOC
By Nam Hyun-woo
GWANGJU ― Korea picked up the first two gold medals in taekwondo’s poomsae event at the 2015 Gwangju Universiade, Tuesday, after Bae Jong-beom and Yang Han-sol demonstrated nearly perfect form in the men’s and women’s individuals.
At the Chosun University Gymnasium, Bae earned 7.93 points, far outscoring Iran’s Mahdi Jamali Fashi with 7.64 points and Indonesia’s Maulana Haidir with 7.59 points.
In the discipline, athletes demonstrate two designated poomsaes ― defined patterns of blocks, punches and kicks ― in response to attacks from imaginary assailants, and are scored by how accurately they perform.
In the first Taebaek poomsae, Bae displayed quick and rhythmical moves, which drew a great response from other countries’ athletes. After earning 7.9 points, he collected an even higher 7.96 points with his thunderous kicks in the second Pyongwon poomsae, which is for higher ranked practitioners.
Though taekwondo is an Olympic sport and included in the Asian Games’ program, only the kyorugi discipline is practiced. The Universiade is the only international multi-sport event where poomsae competitions are held.
“I was really pressured when foreign athletes performed so well,” Bae said. “But I successfully performed what I’ve practiced and got the result.”
The 19-year old stressed that flow is most important in the poomsae discipline and said that he aims to compete at the next Universiade in Taipei, Taiwan and the 2018 Asian Games.
Later in the evening, Yang won gold in the women's event with 7.67 points. Ollin Medina Lopez of Mexico followed Yang with 7.64 points, while Aybuke Yilmaz Elif of Turkey and Liao Wen-hsuan of Chinese Taipei shared bronze with 7.57 points.
After winning gold, Yang said her dream is to let poomsae to be better known all over the world.
"What I find interesting about poomsae is that it's a battle I wage against myself," she said. "I hope more people come to love poomsae."
The World Taekwondo Federation President Choue Chung-won, who presented medals to the women medalists, also agreed with Yang.
“These university athletes’ performances are just as outstanding as those of top poomsae practitioners in the world,” Choue told The Korea Times. “Not only the Korean gold medalists, but the silver and bronze winner also showed great performance. This means that poomsae is attracting more practitioners.”
“In the next Universiade, there will be a freestyle poomsae event, in which athletes will display poomsae they created, and expectations are high that taekwondo fans can watch performances similar to those of Kim Yu-na or Son Yeon-jae,” Choue said. “I expect that an increasing number of poomsae events will create more members of the taekwondo family and expand the sports’ presence.”