For Immediate Press Release

Connecticut, California, Texas

August 27, 2019

Sixteen taekwondo athletes from Avon, Burlington, Canton, Farmington, Meriden, New Britain, Simsbury, Unionville, West Hartford, Los Angeles, CA and Pearland, TX represented the United States and proved to be fierce competitors at the 2019 Chuncheon Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships and the 2019 Kimunyong Cup International Open Taekwondo Championships held this summer in South Korea. The students won a total of 20 medals in sparring against competitors from over twenty-three countries. They train rigorously at Olympic Taekwondo Academy in Unionville and competed as part of Team Light of the World, coached by Grand Master Kiye Cho, a 6th degree black belt and two-time World Champion. Master Cho coaches his students to be National and International Champions, as well as supportive and dedicated teammates. Master Cho and the students traveled to Seoul, South Korea for an intensive summer off season six weeks training with more than seven Korean teams and then participated in the aforementioned international tournaments, bringing home many medals for their respective age, weight and belt level. The athletes ranging in age from 7 – 27 pushed themselves physically, mentally and emotionally to compete at the highest level of taekwondo competition and they’ve made themselves, their states and country proud.

Results:

Avon: Maxine Andersen, Korea Open – Gold, Kimunyong Cup – Gold; Jaemin Aziz, Korea Open – Bronze;

Burlington: Isabel Mendes, Korea Open – Bronze, Kimunyong Cup – Silver;

Canton: Ryan Bae, Korea Open – Bronze;

Farmington: Aika Jolovich, Korea Open – Gold, Kimunyong Cup – Silver; Savannah Smith, Korea Open – Gold, Kimunyong Cup – Gold;

Los Angeles, California: Jaysen Ishida, Kimunyong Cup – Silver;

Meriden: Lorenzo Paragno, Kimunyong Cup – Bronze;

New Britain: Ceana Rodriguez, Korea Open – Gold;

Pearland, Texas: Andy Duan, Korea Open – Silver, Kimunyong Cup – Bronze; Audrey Duan, Korea Open – Silver;

Simsbury: Dylan Gibbs, Korea Open – Silver;

Unionville: James Devlin, Kimunyong Cup – Bronze; Jamie Lee, Kimunyong Cup – Silver;

West Hartford: Caleb Rainey, Korea Open – Gold;

Pictured 1st row Left to Right: Aika Jolovich, Isabel Mendes, Andy Duan, Ryan Bae, Caleb Rainey, Maxine Andersen, Jaemin Aziz, Audrey Duan, Savannah Smith, Dylan Gibbs. Second Row Left to Right: Grand Master Kiye Cho, Ceana Rodriguez and Master Sungkyun Yoo.