Team Singapore Taekwondo departed on 10 May 2023 for the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held at Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The team was led by Team Manager Mr Lai Han Seng, Kyorugi Coach Mr Ko Jae Pil, and Poomsae Coaches Ms Lee Na Lee and Mr Lee Jun Seong.
Taekwondo for the 32nd SEA Games started with our poomsae team competing on 12 May 2023. Darren Yap put up a strong performance in the Male Freestyle Poomsae event and narrowly missed out on the podium finish by one spot. The Male Team Poomsae consisting of Aloysius yeo, Nicholas Khaw and Ranen Fong put up a strong fight and performed well to clinch the bronze medal. Diyanah Aqidah who competed in the Female Individual event, put up another solid performance and clinched the silver medal in the event. The last event of our team for the day was the Mixed Pair event which Diyanah Aqidah and Ranen Fong performed well to clinch the bronze medal.
Team Singapore Taekwondo poomsae team ended the first day of competitions with the medal haul of 1 silver and 2 bronzes.
Following the Poomsae event, the kyorugi team were up next competing over the next three days from 13 to 15 May 2023. The kyorugi events started with Keston Pang who competed in the Male -54kg. Keston Pang put up a great performance and achieved a bronze medal. Nur Fadzlyn competed in the Female -49kg category and Xavier Tan in the Male -74kg category. Nur Fadzlyn put up a strong fight and performed well to clinch the bronze medal while Xavier Tan put up a valiant performance and put up a strong fight. The kyorugi events ended off with Nichelle Tan who competed in the Gemale -53kg category and Dylan Chia who competed in the Male -63kg category. Both of our Kyorugi athletes put up a strong fight against their opponents and performed their best in their respective category.
Team Singapore Taekwondo Kyorugi team ended the 3 days of Kyorugi events with a medal haul of 2 bronzes.
This brings a total of 1 silver and 4 bronze medals for Team Singapore Taekwondo. STF would like to congratulate the National Team for their outstanding performance and achievement at the 32nd SEA Games and thank you coaches and athletes for flying the Singapore flag high.
On top of that, STF would also like to congratulate Mr Darren Lee for receiving one of the three Best Referee award for Taekwondo. We would also like to thank Mr Michael Ho, Mr Roy Tan and the rest of the international referees for their tireless efforts to ensure the smooth running of SEA Games. We would also like to give special thanks and mention to Mr Eric Li, who accompanied as the team physio for the second year running. Beyond accompanying the team during the last two SEA Games, he also supported the team by visiting the team before the commencement of the SEA Games.
Lastly, the federation would like to extend our gratitude to the Taekwondo fraternity for their unwavering support, SNOC, and SportSG for their leadership and support, and family and friends for their care and concern. We would also like to thank Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliament for MCCY, Mr Edmund Lim, Assistant Secretary General of SNOC and Mr Antony Lee, Director Projects of SNOC for supporting our athletes at the Games.
