Team
Date of 2019 Summer World University Games Sparring Team Trials Announced
7 years
As mentioned earlier, the NCTA will hold a team trials event (open to those meeting collegiate and age eligibility requirements) that will be separate from the National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships (to be held April 19-21, 2019 at U. of Texas, Austin). The purpose of these trials are to choose the sparring team members to represent USA at the 2019 Summer World University Games in Naples, Italy. The poomsae team trials, due to the smaller size of the event, will be held concurrent with the NCTA Championships in April.
The date of the sparring team trials will be Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Ft. Worth, TX. The trials will be held in the same venue as the Texas State USAT National Qualifier in Fort Worth, TX. Please plan your spring competition schedule accordingly!
As a reminder only flyweight through middleweight divisions will be contested at the trials, and only those aged 18-25 on Dec. 31, 2019 will be eligible.
Updates to 2019 Summer World University Games Team Selection
7 years
Several changes to athlete eligibility for the 2019 Summer World University Games have been implemented this year by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). These changes will impact our USA team selection process for the Games. The changes instituted by FISU are as follows:
1) Only athletes aged 18-25 (athlete’s age on Dec. 31, 2019) are eligible to compete in the 2019 Summer World University Games.
2) No fin (-54kg male, -46kg female) or heavy (+87kg male, +73kg female) sparring divisions will be contested at the 2019 Summer World University Games due to event housing constraints, leaving only 12 weight categories that will be contested at the Games.
3) Only 6 poomsae athletes from each country are allowed to compete at the 2019 Summer Summer World University Games due to housing constraints.
The NCTA wishes to be inclusive of all collegiate athletes. Therefore, in 2019, the NCTA will hold a team trials event (open to those meeting collegiate and age eligibility) that will be separate from the National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships (to be held April 19-21 at U. of Texas, Austin).
Holding a separate team trials and NCTA National Championships will allow the Championships to be more inclusive in terms of age (18+), citizenship (international students allowed), and sparring weight classes (inclusive of all 16 weight divisions).
The 2019 Summer World University Games team trials will only include divisions that will be contested at the Summer World University Games. Adjustments to the poomsae athlete selection process to meet the 6 athlete quota are being considered and will be announced as soon as possible.
It is the NCTA’s intention that both the Team Trials and Championships events will be USAT sanctioned and USAT ranking point-bearing events.
The date and location of the 2019 Collegiate Team Trials are being determined and will be announced as soon as possible.
UPDATE (1/3/2019): The age range has been corrected from 19-25 to 18-25 based on the latest information from FISU.
NCTA Fields Team at Inaugural World University Taekwondo Festival
7 years
Muju, South Korea – (Nov. 4-8, 2018) The National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) sent at team of 17 athletes to the Taekwondowon (Taekwondo Park) to compete at the 1st World University Taekwondo Festival (WUTF). Hundreds of athletes from multiple countries including Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia, Mongolia, Ghana and USA gathered to compete in both poomsae and sparring. In addition to the competition, activities promoting cultural exchange were held, including team building, hiking, and joint workouts.
Organizing the trip was NCTA President Russell Ahn and Deputy Secretary General Sophia Chung. The team director was Chang Rok Shon, and the coaches were Jacky Baik, Alex Haksung Kim and Claire Kim. The team doctor was Sherri Lashomb.
Said President Ahn, “The [WUTF] was proposed from WT to FISU in 2011 when World University Taekwondo Championship was no longer available due to the fact that Taekwondo became one of Summer Universiade Compulsory Sports in 2009 Izmir, Turkey, and was formally endorsed by FISU in 2013. World Taekwondo and the Taekwondo Promotional Foundation subsequently organized the pilot event at the Muju Taekwondowon on November 4 – 8, 2018. The festival was a great success, featuring training programs, cultural activities, and academic seminars, and has great potential for future development. With hundreds of collegiate athletes from eight countries, it was a great melting pot for University Taekwondo. I am grateful for our staff, coaches, and athletes who not only actively engaged with various programs but also competed well for USA.”
In the poomsae competition, Alex Lee (Stanford U.) earned a silver medal in Men’s Individual Poomsae, and the female team of Nina Anwar (MIT), Rachel Connick (MIT), and Renee Zhao (MIT) earned a bronze medal in the the female Team Poomsae division. Also representing USA in individual poomsae was Kevin Chen (UC Irvine), Jean Chow (Columbia U.), Frank Fang (MIT), Anwar and Zhao.
In sparring competition athletes competed in Olympic weight classes. On the women’s side, Rose Popma (U. Michigan) earned gold in -67kg, Amanda West (U. Michigan) earned gold in +67kg, Rachel Connick (MIT) earned a silver in -57kg, and Catherine Zhao (Columbia U.) earned silver in +67kg. Also representing in -57kg was Katherine Velguth (U. Michigan). The women’s sparring team of Connick, Velguth and West earned a gold medal in the women’s team sparring division.
In men’s sparring, Caleb Head (Anne Arundel CC) earned a silver in -80kg sparring, Benjamin Aguon (Tarrant County CC) and Justin Shon (UC Davis) earned bronze medals in -58kg sparring, and Franz Darquea (Brigham Young U.) and Nathan Putney (Norlake College) earned bronze medals in -80kg sparring. Also representing in -68kg was Vincent Meng (U. of Dayton). The team of Head, Meng and Shon earned a gold medal in the men’s team sparring division.
Ishida and Healy Earn Gold and Bronze Medals at 2017 Universiade
Days 3 through 5 of taekwondo competition at the 2017 World University Games (Univeriade) in Taipei featured 12 USA athletes competing in sparring, culminating in a gold and bronze medal for the team on Day 5.
Jaysen Ishida (-74kg, University of Hawaii, Manoa) won the first gold medal for taekwondo at the Games and the 5th gold medal among all sports for Team USA. Ishida won 16-10 over Muhammed Emin Yildiz (TUR) in the round of 32, won 23-6 over Marcos Vinicius Dantas A Reis (BRA) in the round of 16, won 12-9 over Jack Marek Marton (AUS) in the quarterfinals, won 12-6 over Tsung-Yeh Yang (TPE) in the semifinals, and over Ramin Hosseingholi Zadeh (IRI) 18-9 in the finals for the historic win.
Jonathan Healy (+87kg, Liberty University) earned a bronze medal. He won 23-3 over Ravi Kadyan (IND) in the round of 16, won 9-1 over Tzu-Yi Tseng (TPE) in the quarterfinasl, before going out to Maicon De Andrade Siqueira (BRA) 3-3 (3-0) in golden point in the semifinals.
Also competing on Day 5 were Makayla Gorka (-62kg, University of Central Oklahoma) and Morgan McGarvey (+73kg, Northeast Iowa Community College). Gorka advanced over to Rahaf Ismail (JOR) by penalty disqualification (12-15) in the round of 32 before falling to Daniela Rotolo (ITA) 5-25 in the round of 16, and McGarvey lost to Ting-Hsia Ma (TPE) 6-18 in the round of 16.
Four sparring athletes competed on Day 4. Connor Wilson (-80kg, University of California, Los Angeles) won 8-7 over Aktan Sabuov (KAZ) in the round of 32 before going out 10-10 (SUP) in golden point to Ismael Bouzid Shouihli (FRA) in the round of 16. Kendall Yount (-67kg, Centre College) lost 5-19 to Eva Calvo Gomez (ESP) in the round of 32. Isaac Weintraub (-58kg, University of Central Oklahoma) lost 6-12 to Gulzhigit Kochkorbaev (RUS) in the round of 32. Jancee Ro (-49kg, Polk State University) lost by DSQ to Seema Kannaujiya (IND) in the round of 32.
Day 3 also featured four sparring athletes. Abbey Ardiana (-57kg, Utah Valley University) won 12-3 over Akbota Ismagulova (KAZ) in the round of 32 before going out to Paulina Armeria (MEX) 4-8 in the round of 16. Alondra Venegas (-46kg, DePaul University) advanced over Haiqiong Huang (CHN) in the round of 32 by DSQ before going out 9-17 to Rukiye Yildirim (TUR) in the round of 16. David Kim (-54kg, Pikes Peak Community College) lost to Chen-Yu Wang (TPE) 5-9 in the round of 32, and William Jackson (-68kg, University of Texas, Dallas) lost to Seyedhossein Ehsanipetroudi (IRI) 1-27 in the round of 64.
Two days of competition remain with four individuals remaining on Day 6 and team sparring on Day 7. Team USA Taekwondo currently holds one gold, one silver and two bronze medals and will seek to add to that count during the last two days of competition.
Taekwondo Earns First Two Team USA Medals of Universiade
The first two days of taekwondo competition at the 2017 Summer World University Games (Universiade) finished with two medals for Team USA. On day one, Edward Jeong (University of Bridgeport) earned a silver medal in male individual poomsae, and Adalis “AJ” Munoz (Tarrant County College) earned a bronze medal. The medals were the first among all sports for Team USA at the Universiade. In this year’s new format, athletes had to perform one recognized poomsae and one freestyle poomsae in the final round.
On day two, the team continued its strong performance with all divisions reaching the final (top 8) round in deep fields. The men’s team of Jeong, Albert Jong (San Jose State University) and Kody Han (University of California, Berkeley) earned close 5th place, missing the podium by a score of just 0.01. Kelsey Ha (Evergreen Valley College) and Jong also finished in 5th place. The female team of Christina Castillo (Austin Community College), Samery Moras (Utah Valley University) and Munoz finished in 7th place on the back of a strong performance. Said head poomsae coach Long Nguyen, “Everyone left everything on the mat but most importantly, we represented Team USA in the best manner possible.”
The next 5 days of competition will feature sparring competition from 16 USA athletes.
