TABUK CITY, Kalinga- A city employee here won the gold medal in the 13th World Taekwondo Culture Expo in South Korea.
Engineer Jeffrey Ysmael of the City Building and Architecture Officer here took the gold in the Poomsae men’s under 40 of the annual event that attracts some of the best taekwondo practitioners from around the world.
Ysmael said that only nine players from the usual 100 were sent to the expo by the country due to the pandemic.
Through the Philippine Taekwondo Association, he was able to get details and criteria and so he decided to send his video to the competition.
“When the PTA sent me the details I decided to make my own video then sent it and was happy to have won the 40-under category,” Ysmael said in the vernacular.
The competition was done in November of last year but his award came in only earlier this year due to the pandemic.
The package that was his award included the gold medal, a certificate and a whole set of uniform and a shirt.
Ysmael bested competitors from Spain, the United States of America (USA), Croatia, Finland, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kyrgyztan, Greece, Iraq, Zambia, Ghana and many more.
Ysmael also won a silver medal in the LENTS World Taewondo Championship in the same category. It was also held last year and is awaiting the award be sent to him.
