National Collegiate Taekwondo Association

2009 Summer World University Games Summary, Team USA, Taekwondo
(In progress, more pictures to come)

The US delegation. Front row (seated/kneeling) from left to right: Coach Linda Buell, Team Leader Rex Hatfield, Kasey Mallard, Doctor Sherri Lashomb, Team Leader Yong Chin Pak. Second row: Coach Yoon Kak Kim, Team Manager Earnest Kuo, Coach Jae Ho Kim, Anthony Nugyen, Audrey Su, Maia Eubanks, Brandi Powers, Bonnie Su, Whitney Daniel, Aziza Chambers, Cheryl Krause, Anees Hanain, Alicia Zhou, Becca Hung, Coach Kyung Hoon Kim, Coach Dan Chuang. Third Row: Dennis Rudasill, "TJ" Leising, Jayson Grant, Kristopher Uy, Stephan Webb, Terrence Jennings, Jason Hwang, James Howe, Johnny Nguyen, and Bobby Ren. Not pictured are Carissa Fu, Karolina Corin, Victoria Serbin and Dan Rogers

The US Summer World University Games Taekwondo Team began competition on July 1 and 2, 2009. Taekwondo was a particularly well attended sport at these multi-sport games, with 495 athletes from over 70 countries participating in both poomsae and sparring. These games are the first time that both poomsae and sparring have been included in the same national-team level event. The Games feature 15 sports, with 8995 participants from over 170 countries in attendance. The team is staying in an athlete village similar to those found in other multi-sport games like the Olympics.

The first day featured individual poomsae competition. The level was very high, with many World Poomsae Championships medalists in attendance. Johnny Nguyen (Arizona State) and Carissa Fu (Princeton) lead off the US Team with men's and women's individual respectively. Although both displayed fine performances, both narrowly missed the cutoff for the semifnals round.

Carissa Fu and Johnny Nguyen compete in individual forms.

Competition continued on the second day with team and pairs competition. The men's team of Johnny Nguyen, Anthony Nguyen (Arizona State) and Jason Hwang (Cal State-San Bernardino) featured the strongest performance of the day. They advanced from the preliminaries to the semifinals with a 6th place performance, then improved to fifth place in the semifinals to make the final 8, where they placed 6th overall, just two places out of the medals..

Mixed pair Alicia Zhou (Harvard) and Bobby Ren (Lake Washington) advanced to the semifinals with an 11th place finish, maintaining that position in the semi-finals but unfortunately missing the cut for the finals. Still, it was a fine performance for their debut at the World University Games as US team members.

The women's team of Alicia Zhou, Karolina Corin (MIT) and Rebecca Hung (MIT) also debuted in the Summer World Universtiy Games. They placed 9th in the preliminaries to advance to the semifinals, where they again placed 9th but just missed the cut for the finals.

Men's Individual
1) K. Lee, Korea
2) D. Nguyen, Vietnam
3) A. Elhamy, Egypt
4) M. Martinez, Spain

Women's Individual
1) L. Kim, Spain
2) C. Hwang, Korea
3) R. El-Said, Egypt
3) S. Pinga, Italy

Terrence "TJ" Jennings (feather, No. Va. Community College) earned for the first medal not just for the US Taekwondo SWUG Team, but for the whole US delegation at the Games. He opened the day with a convincing 5-1 win over Ibragim Mekhtiev Russia. He followed it with a 4-3 win over Erick Osornio Nunez from Mexico (who had beaten Iran in the first round), a win over Levon Pashabezyan of Armenia 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and met up with Diogo Silva of Brazil in the semis, who was both a former Olympian and reigning Pan Am Games Gold medalist. The tense, strategic match went to sudden death overtime, with neither athlete scoring - unfortunately, the decision went to Silva, for a final score of (0-0), OT (SP). TJ finished with BRONZE on the day.

Terrence Jennings (red) lands a kick on Erick Osornio Nunez from Mexico(blue) en route to a bronze medal

Johnny Nguyen (fin, Arizona State) also had an excellent outing, raining double kicks down on his opponents, reaching the quarterfinals before losing to the eventual silver medalist from Turkey. Johnny won his first match 0-(-1) over Tan Long of China, his second over Mohammad Rashid Al Mehairi of the United Arab Emirates 2-0, and lost to Remzi Basakbugday of Turkey 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

Kasey Mallard (bantam, Dallas Baptist) received a bye the first round, then faced Thi Hoai Thu Nguyen of Vietnam in the second round, who she beat in sudden death (1-1), (1-0, OT) on a back kick. In the third round, she met Martina Zubcic from Croatia who placed 4th at the 2008 Olympics. Furthermore, she had broken her foot in her first match but chose to spar against Zubcic regardless. She sparred her opponent to a 1-1 draw until the closing seconds, when Zubcic was able to sneak in a last second point on the injured Mallard. She lost 2-1 but showed great grit and determination.

Anees Hasnain (fin, UCLA) met the eventual gold medalis, Park Hyoji from Korea in the 1st round. Despite some strong exchanges and landing some solid kicks on her opponent, she lost 4-0 and did not advance.

President Rex Hatfield was named a member of the supervisory board for the tournament, and Victoria Serbin served as the referee co-chair of the Taekwondo competition at the games. The coaches on the day were Dan Chuang, Jae Ho Kim, Linda Buell and Kyung Hoon Kim.

Men's Fin
1) Cheon Yong, Korea
2) Remzi Basakbugday , Turkey
3) Cheng Chia-Ching, Chinese Taipei
3) Chutchawal Khawlaor, Thailand

Women's Fin
1) Park Hyoji, Korea
2) Zhang Qiang, China
3) Kristina Kim, Russia
3) Ting Ju-Yi, Chinese Taipei

Men's Feather
1) Diogo Silva , Brazil
2) Lee Soonkil, Korea
3) Terrence Jennings, USA
3) Thanawut Klinkhachon, Thailand

Women's Feather
1) Jung Jinhee, Korea
2) Tseng Pei-Hua, Chinese Taipei
3) Pamela Valente, Italy
3) Martina Zubcic, Croatia

James Howe (fly, Diablo Valley) received a bye in the first round, then defeated Julian Akich of Germany by point gap (10-3) with an impressive array of body kicks both offensive and defensive. In the quarterfinals, he met eventual gold medalist Moon Kilsang from Korea. A very tight and competitive match featuring sound contact from both players, the final score was 2-0 in favor of Korea.

Bonnie Su (welter, Texas) met Saina Savage of Finland in her first match. She went up early with a counter axe kick, her opponent tied it up with some counter roundhouse kicks, and she went up again in the third round with some aggressive play to win the match 5-3. In the quarterfinal round, she narrowly lost to Maria Chugaeva of Russia 2-0 in a match that was very close all the way through.

Bonnie Su (red) and Saina Savage (blue) of Finland. Far left is Coach Kyung Hoon Kim

Kristopher Uy (welter, Diablo Valley) drew Guilu Atabey from Turkey in his first match. Kristopher got down early but adapted well to almost close the gap in the final round. However, he fell short with a final score of 3-2 in favor of Turkey.

Cheryl Krause (fly, George Mason) drew Choi Yoojin from Korea in her first match. Despite a strong effort from Cheryl, Korea advanced on a score of 3-1.

The coaches on the day were Jae Ho Kim, Kyung Hoon Kim, Yoon Kak Kim and Linda Buell.

Men's Fly
1) Moon Kilsang, Korea
2) Ninoslav Babic, Serbia
3) Uchimura Kengo, Japan
3) Onur Cam, Turkey

Women's Fly
1) Manuela Bezzola, Switzerland
2) Yang Shu-Chun, Chinese Taipei
3) Pena Janete Alegria, Mexico
3) Chanatip Sonkham, Thailand

Men's Welter
1) Kahangi Rouhollah Taelbi, Iran
2) Sergey Dozortsev, Russia
3) Arman Yeremyan, Armenia
3) Baek Sunhong, Korea

Women's Welter
1) Gulnafis Aitmukhambefova, Kazakhstan
2) Petra Matijasevic, Croatia
3) Lee Seon Hyeong, Korea
3) Maria Chugaeva, Russia

Maia Eubanks (heavy, Rice) received a bye in the first round, then met up with Brazilian Olympic bronze medalist and eventual SWUG gold medalist Natalia Silva Falavigna in the quarterfinals. Maia used footwork and speed to keep the match very close until the 3rd round, when Silva was able open a lead and take the tight match by a score of 2-0.

Whitney Daniel (light, Rutgers) advanced over Korea in the first round due to an injury withdrawal. In the second round, she met Tina Tanrikula of Australia. Although there were some really solid exchanges, no points were went up for her and she lost a tough one 7-0.

Stephan Webb (light, Metro State) drew Fabio Sottile of Italy in the first round. He got down 4-1 early in the match, but was able to press and attack to tie up the score 4-4. Unfortunately his opponent scored on a counter attack early in over time, for a final score of 4-4 (0-1, OT).

T.J. Leising (heavy, Santa Clara) drew eventual bronze medalist Robert Vossen of Germany. T.J. worked hard through all 3 rounds and kept his opponent engaged but fell short by a score of 2-0.

The coaches on the day were Dan Chuang, Jae Ho Kim, Yoon Kak Kim and Linda Buell.

Men's Light
1) Alireza Nassrazadany, Iran
2) Torann Maizeroi, France
3) Sebastian Lehmann, Germany
3) Patiwat Thongsalap, Thailand

Women's Light
1) Estefania Hernandez Garcia, Spain
2) Chonnapas Premwaew, Thailand
3) Chang Chiung-Fang, Chinese Taipei
3) Marlene Harnois, France

Men's Heavy
1) Roman Kuznetsov, Russia
2) Hossein Tajik, Iran
3) Robert Vossen, Germany
3) Salvador Perez Rodriguez, Mexico

Women's Heavy
1) Natalia Silva, Brazil
2) Han Yingying, China
3) Rapatkorn Prasopsuk, Thailand
3) Busra Yildiz, Turkey

Johnny Nguyen, Anthony Nguyen, Terrence Jennings, James Howe, Stephan Webb and Dennis Rudasill cheer on their teamates with some "war paint" on their chests. Far right is team manager Ernest Kuo

Aziza Chambers (bantam, Dayton) received a bye in the first round. In the second round, she met up with Federica Mastrantoni from Italy. It was a close match, but Aziza was able to score with some strong roundhouse kicks to the body and go up by one in the third round finishing at 3-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. There, she met world silver medalist Tseng Yi-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei. She held her own against her experienced opponent, coming from behind 2-4 and scoring a head shot on a roundhouse kick to the head in the third round to take her opponent to overtime. After a couple of exchanges in overtime where both players made contact, Tseng scored with a counter roundhouse kick, making the final score 4-4 (0-1, OT).

Aziza Chambers (blue) celebrates a point scored on Federica Mastrantoni (red) of Italy

Brandi Powers (middle, Stevenson) met Maria Karavaeva of Russia in the first round. It was difficult to get a point on her taller opponent through out the match, but with 5 seconds left, down 2-4, being cheered on by her teammates, Brandi was able to land an axe kick to her opponent's face to tie the score and force overtime. In overtime, she was able to land a kick to the body to take the match, 4-4 (1-0, OT). She next met Andrijana Ciric of Serbia in the quarterfinals. With the entire stadium cheering for her opponent, she had a hard time getting a point to go up on the board and lost (-1)-6.

Jason Hwang (bantam, Cal. State - San Bernardino) met Washington Marcelino of Brazil in his first match. It was an exciting match featuring Jason's exciting aerial kicks vs. his opponents quick attacks. The match went to overtime, but unfortunately the point didn't go Jason's way, with the final score being 3-3 (0-1, OT).

Jason Hwang (red) attacks with an axe kick on Washington Marcelino (blue) of Brazil

Jayson Grant (middle, Quinsigammond C.C.) fought the eventual silver medalist from Russia, Ivan Nikitin. After finishing the first round 1-1 he got down in the second round and was unable to get around his opponent's solid defense. The final score was 4-1.

Jayson Grant (red) and Ivan Nikitin (blue) of Russia

The coaches on the day were Linda Buell, Kyung Hoon Kim, and Dan Chuang.

It was a tough week overall for the US team with some close calls. The team earned one bronze medal (Terrence Jennings) and had 8 athletes reach the quarterfinals (Johnny Nguyen, James Howe, Aziza Chambers, Kasey Mallard, Bonnie Su, Brandi Powers, Maia Eubanks and Jennings). Also, our men's poomsae team (Johnny Nguyen, Anthony Nguyen, Jason Hwang) finished just 2 spots away from the medals. The team is disappointed but also understands how close it was to achieving a better result, and all are motivated for the future.

Men's Bantam
1. Rafik Zohri, Netherlands
2. Kim Taek Kyu, Korea
3. Dmitry Frank, Russia
3. Stevan Rasic, Serbia

Men's Middle
1. Mehran Askari, Iran
2. Ivan Nikitin, Russia
3. Ihar Rasakhatski, Belarus
3. Serdar Yuksel, Turkey

Women's Bantam
1. Tseng Yi-Hsuan, Chinese Taipei
2. Wu Qiong, China
3. Jinah Nam, Korea
3. Sarita Phongsri, Thailand

Women's Middle
1. Gwladys Epangue, France
2. Oh Hyeri, Korea
3. Andrijana Ciric, Serbia
3. Reshmie Oogink, Netherland