Online Takewondo: Kerala hopes for good show at Nationals

Kerala is aiming for a handful of medals in the online Open National taekwondo poomsae championship, organised by India Taekwondo, from September 28 to October 4.

39-member team

Kerala will field a 39-member team in the championship and its hopes rest mainly on S. Shaji (men), P.C. Gopinath (masters), N.M. Karnika (junior girls) and Laya Fathima (cadet).

Players may record (without background music) compulsory or chosen poomsae (patterns of attack and defence) and send in the video link at the time of registration.

“We are fielding a relatively small team as poomsae is not very popular in Kerala.

“Due to the pandemic, most of our players were short of practice and generally reluctant to participate in the meet.

“We assigned coaches in each district to brief players about the competition and the compulsory poomsae to be demonstrated.

“We managed to get 39 entries before the deadline.

Expecting some success

“There are a few medal-winners among the entrants and we are expecting some success from them,” said the Kerala Taekwondo secretary B. Aji.