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SINGAPORE, 17 NOVEMBER 2024 – Singapore continued its dominance of virtual taekwondo, sweeping all three gold medals on offer on the final day of the inaugural World Taekwondo Virtual Championships on Sunday (17 Nov).
At the OCBC Arena, national athlete Tan Jia Wei picked up Singapore’s first gold of the day after narrowly defeating teammate Sherri Yap 2-1 in the Young Adult Individual Female category. Young Adult Individual Mixed gold medalist Zyka Angelica Santiago took home the bronze after beating Malaysian Nur Amirah Amir 2-0.
Tan, 21, said: “All the competitors were very good and there was a good mix of poomsae and kyorugi players. I had hoped to win some medals before this so I’m very happy to win. I feel very honoured because this is the first world championships and I didn’t expect myself to get so far. Sherri and I just decided to have fun with it and we said that we’ll still be good friends no matter who wins. Now I’m going to train even harder and come back stronger. I’m also going to enjoy my win and finally eat some potato chips.
“Virtual taekwondo is more challenging to adapt to, but it’s been really fun and I’ve really enjoyed myself. There are different aspects to it like you have to be fast, but slow at the same time to adapt to the system. It helps me visualize matches better and you can apply some things you learn to physical taekwondo so it helps me to improve in that as well.”
In the Young Adult Individual Male final, Justin Peh shook off the disappointment of finishing second in the Mixed category the day before with a convincing 2-0 victory over South Korea’s Park Sung-bin. Park’s compatriot Lee Gyu-min won the bronze after defeating Azerbaijan’s Elmir Ismayilov 2-0.
An elated Peh, 20, said: “I’m very happy. I won’t say it’s unexpected because I’ve trained quite hard for it. I did a lot of stamina-based training because you need a lot of stamina for virtual taekwondo. So I started running every day in my neighbourhood just until I got tired. I was really tired from fighting six rounds yesterday, but I wanted to win and I kept telling myself that and that I didn’t want to get second again. The previous competitions (the Singapore Open Virtual Taekwondo Championships and the Muju Taekwondowon 2024 International Open Virtual Taekwondo Championships) helped me get a lot of experience fighting different opponents and fighting styles so that helped me learn to adapt faster. With competitions like those and this world championships, I get to share the experience I gain with my teammates and together we can improve and win other competitions together.”
His father Brian then completed Singapore’s sweep, winning the Adult Individual Mixed title after beating compatriot Tan Lee Fong 2-1. It was an all-Singapore podium in this category with Koh Poh Ling beating Thomas Mok 2-1 to clinch the bronze.
The win was extra special to Brian as it was the second time he and his son emerged champions at the same competition. The pair also won their respective categories at the Singapore Open Virtual Taekwondo Championships in June.
The 44-year-old, who has been battling a host of injuries including a slipped disc for the last 20 years, said: “I went through a lot of pain for this one, but I just wanted to train together with my son and push all the way. Every father wishes they can win a gold medal together with their son. At first, I didn’t think I was going to make it because my headset was blurry and I couldn’t see anything, so I had to fight based on my instincts. But as an athlete, you don’t give up and I always want to do my best and live with no regrets. I’ve felt very empty after stopping my competitive career to coach 20 years ago and I just came back to competing this year. Covid-19 also made me feel very lonely so after that, I decided to come back and upgrade myself and I hope to continue training hard and improving as long as I still can.
“Virtual taekwondo helps a lot with people who have a lot of injuries because if you keep going for kyorugi fights, it’s not sustainable. But this gives people who are injured the chance to carry on fighting. I feel proud that we Singaporeans have done so well in this competition. It’s all thanks to the Singapore Taekwondo Federation, our coaches and so many people working behind the scenes to help us get such amazing results. I hope that at the future competitions, Singapore can carry on this spirit and continue to do well in the sport.”
Singapore ended their campaign at the two-day world championships with a total haul of eight medals (four golds, four silvers, one bronze).
The World Taekwondo Virtual Championships 2024 marks the return of the sport to Singapore after the city successfully hosted the inaugural Olympic Esports Week in June 2023, where Virtual Taekwondo made its debut. 120 athletes from 23 countries, AIN, and the Refugee Team competed in the inaugural world championships over two days at the OCBC Arena.
Credits: 2024 World Taekwondo Virtual Championships