International debut

14-year-old Mayn Coran to compete with world’s best in 1st WTF World Cadet Championships

MAYN Coran’s road to a slot in the national team wasn’t easy. She had to compete against other hopefuls from the rest of the country.

But after earning a spot in the Philippine taekwondo sparring team, the 14-year-old Cebuana national champion’s hard work paid off and she will make her international debut later this month.

Coran will take on the best young jins in the world in the cadet (12 to 14 years old) women’s featherweight division of the 1st World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) World Cadet Taekwondo Championships. It will be on July 24-27 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

“She was our gold medalist in Palaro this year. I am very proud of Mayn as she overcame tremendous odds just to make it to the national team. We had to send her five times to Manila since February this year for the series of evaluations. Each time, she had to spar with other girls from NCR as well as other provinces,” Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) Region 7 chairman Tony del Prado told Sun.Star Cebu.

Coran just joined the national team after being picked in the final evaluation in May. She has been training rigorously with the team since June 20.

Despite her inexperience, del Prado is optimistic. Win or lose, del Prado believes that Coran is already a winner because of the knowledge and skill that she will learn from competing with the best

“This will be her first international stint and we are hoping for the best,” he said. “No matter what happens, we know that she will still come out better and stronger after this competition. It will be a huge stepping stone for more success in her taekwondo career.”