By Melody Wu Jo Hsuan
OCA Young Reporter from Chinese Taipei
Toyohashi, Japan, October 1, 2026: Korea, the home of taekwondo, showed who’s boss in Individual Poomsae on the first day of competition at the Asian Games at Toyohashi Gymnasium on Thursday.
Korea recorded a golden double, as Jung Haeun won the women’s title with a score of 9.3100, followed by Juliana Mykhail Candelaria of the Philippines with 9.1300 for silver.
Thailand’s Kaewolanwasu Thitaree (9.0400) and Japan’s Yuiko Niwa (8.9100) won bronze medals.
In the men’s Poomsae event, Korea’s Yun Kyusung took gold with 9.3800, ahead of Thailand’s Navin Pinthasute in the silver medal position with 9.2800. The Philippines’ Jeus Gabriel Derick Yape (9.0900) and Singapore’s Darren Yap Zong Han (9.0400) earned bronze medals.
For the 25-year-old Niwa, competing at an Asian Games on home soil was something she had been preparing for long before she stepped on to the mat.
“Competing in my home country meant a lot to me,” Niwa said. “From the moment I heard that the next Asian Games would be held in Japan, I changed my mind-set and started preparing for this competition.”
As part of that preparation, Niwa moved her training base to South Korea, where she worked with a specialist coach. But the journey was not always easy. She admitted that watching videos of other top freestyle poomsae athletes sometimes made her compare herself with them.
“I wanted to perform like them, but there were things I couldn’t do,” she said. “It was difficult, but I kept working so that I could perform the movements I wanted.”
The level of women’s freestyle poomsae has continued to rise, with younger athletes bringing increasingly difficult skills. Niwa said she was aware of the age difference but trained hard to remain competitive.
Her routine in Toyohashi also carried a special connection to Japan. The choreography was designed to express Japanese identity, with inspiration from traditional elements such as kimono and taiko drums.
Niwa had originally prepared more difficult skills for the competition but, after experiencing the condition of the competition mat, she decided to lower the difficulty slightly and focus on performing safely and consistently.
Before her final performance, she reminded herself of everything she had done in South Korea to reach this moment.
“I thought, this is the last one,” she said. “I remembered everything I had done to prepare and tried to show it all.”
Niwa’s journey in international freestyle poomsae began four years ago at the 2022 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Goyang, South Korea. She said it was both her first freestyle poomsae competition and her first international competition.
Looking back at videos from 2022, Niwa sees a very different athlete today, with improvements in both the difficulty and execution of her skills.
Poomsae is a set sequence of defensive and offensive movements that simulates combat against imaginary opponents.
Mixed Individual Virtual Taekwondo will make its Asian Games debut on Friday, along with the start of the Kyorugi (combat) competitions over the next two days.
Friday will also bring the first appearance of the Asian Refugee Team – two athletes from the Syrian Arab Republic now living in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan and playing under the OCA flag.