National taekwondo kyorugi squad to train in S. Korea
KUALA LUMPUR: Three national taekwondo exponents from the kyorugi (sparring) squad will celebrate next month’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri away from home as they will be undergoing a monthlong intensive training in South Korea from Sunday ahead of the Hanoi SEA Games in Vietnam from May 12 to 23.
National coach Rusfredy Tokan Petrus said the three exponents are 2019 SEA Games silver medallist Ahmad Nor Iman Hakim Rakib (68-kilogramme (kg) featherweight), Muhammad Syafiq Zuber (80kg welterweight) and Nurul Farah Alisa Roslan (63kg lightweight).
Two other exponents who will also be training in South Korea are Sebastian Tan Chung Wan (54kg finweight) and Fu Cern Put Thai (58kg flyweight).
Rusfredy said the decision to train in South Korea, which is usually the team’s preferred destination for final preparations ahead of the biennial Games, was to help raise the mental and physical levels of the exponents for the Vietnam Games.
“Preparations (for the Hanoi SEA Games) are coming along smoothly… hopefully the exponents will be prepared psychologically before we head to South Korea because of the high-intensity training there.
“Usually, they will train four times a day in South Korea... they will also be able to change sparring partners at the training venue,” he told a media conference here yesterday.
The national exponents will undergo a final phase of training at the Chungnam Physical Education High School until May 13 before leaving South Korea for Vietnam the next day, with the SEA Games taekwondo competition set to begin on May 19. — Bernama