Naples, Italy – (July 8, 2019) Day two at the PalaCasoria Arena featured the the Men’s and Women’s Team Poomsae events, with USA Team Men’s and Women’s team both advancing to the final round and placing 6th and 7th, respectively.

Eddie Jeong, Kody Han and Sean Wallace started the competition in semi-finals with a total of 15 teams.  They performed a solid Koryo and Keumgang to advance to finals finishing seventh, advancing them to the finals. Following the saem format as the previous days Individual event, one recognized and one freestyle poomsae for each team determined the medalists. USA Team scored 7.14 in the finals, finishing in 6th place, losing a tiebreaker for 5th, completing Pyongwon and a freestyle poomsae.  They were just 0.05 away from medaling at this year’s Universiade.

Said Wallace of his experience, “It has been an honor to represent the USA and compete among the top college athletes from around the world! Although the competition was tough, we gave it our all and left it all on the mat. We are proud of our work and are grateful for the opportunity to attend the 2019 Summer World University Games!”

The female team, comprised of Adalis “AJ” Munoz, Titania Thao and Christy Quntanilla, also competed alongside 14 other teams.  USA Team completed an outstanding Taeguek 8 and Koryo to advance to finals in 8th place.  Taebaek and a Freestyle routine were the necessities in finals, they executed well, increased their standing from semis, and finished 7th overall.

“Every year the competition gets stiffer, and this event was no exception. All three of us prepared our absolute best to represent the USA. Thank you to everyone who supported us to get here”, said AJ Munoz.

Said Poomsae Head Coach, Huy Nguyen, “Words cannot express how proud I am of our poomsae athletes at this year Summer University Games!  This is the best result ever for our poomsae team at this event.  USA came in 2nd place overall in the very competitive poomsae competition, right behind Korea.  Thank you to all the coaches and staff for working together to prepare our athletes for their great showing at thes Games. Sparring competition starts tomorrow, and I am confident the momentum will continue for our fighters.”

The USA Team commences its sparring competition on Tuesday, July 9.  Charles Buset (-68kg), Starla Santana (-57kg) and Connor Wilson (-80kg) will take to the mat as USA Team’s first sparring players at the World University Games.

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