Australia delivered an impressive campaign at the 2026 Kukkiwon World Hanmadang Championships, winning two gold, two silver and two bronze medals against a field of more than 4,000 competitors from 61 countries.
Sixteen athletes will fly the flag for Australia at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships after winning their division at the recent Senior World Taekwondo Championships selection event in Penrith.
Young guns Jake Buhagiar from Halls Taekwondo in Victoria and Matthew Summerfield from Rawlins Taekwondo in Western Australia made their mark on the senior ranks, each securing a spot on Australia's National Team.
Summerfield broke Australia's 14-year junior medal drought in 2022 after he fought his way to the semi-finals at the World Junior Taekwondo Championships to secure bronze.
Buhagiar blitzed the backend of the 2022 season with gold medals at the WT Presidents Cup, Oceania Championship, Tahiti Open and Australian Taekwondo National Championships, form that helped Buhagiar move into the categorised ranks as an Emerging athlete for 2023.
Summerfield, who was recently announced as a squad member for the National Performance Centre's Taekwondo Program, will be joined by fellow squad members and now national teammates, including Saffron Tambyrajah (Notorious Martial Arts, VIC), Stacey Hymer (Notorious Martial Arts, VIC), Reba Stewart (Halls Taekwondo, VIC), Bailey Lewis (City West Taekwondo, VIC), Tom Afonczenko (Notorious Martial Arts, VIC), Leon Sejranovic, (Notorious Martial Arts, VIC), Liam Sweeney (One Taekwondo, QLD) and Rebecca Murray (Edge Taekwondo, QLD).
Rounding out the team of 16 are Juliet Lahood (Global Martial Arts, NSW), Arash Mozhdeh (Mozhdeh Martial Arts, VIC), Emily Stellino (Global Martial Arts, NSW), Adam Meyers (The Story Centre, VIC), Molly Parks (Mozhdeh Martial Arts, VIC), and Amber Heslop (Forza Taekwondo, ACT) who will all make the trip to Baku in May.
The World Taekwondo Championships showcase the best senior black belts from 212 Member Nations of World Taekwondo. Since the first World Taekwondo Championships in 1973, Australia has medalled 19 times and is in the top 30 countries on the all-time medal tally.
The last Australian to medal at the Senior World Taekwondo Championships was Victorian Carmen Marton, with the three-time Olympian winning gold in 2013.
The World Taekwondo Championships will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from May 29 - June 4, 2023.
Applications are currently being accepted for team coaches to support the Head Coach during the World Championships tour - applications for this role close on March 4 at 5:00 pm (AEDT). To learn more and apply, please click here.
The Senior World Taekwondo Championships Selection Event was proudly supported by the Penrith City Council and hosted at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre.
Australia delivered an impressive campaign at the 2026 Kukkiwon World Hanmadang Championships, winning two gold, two silver and two bronze medals against a field of more than 4,000 competitors from 61 countries.
Australian Taekwondo's National Poomsae Team delivered a standout campaign across three international events on the Gold Coast — the 2026 Australian Open G2, Oceania President's Cup G3 and Oceania Championships G4 — collecting a haul of gold and two Overall Team Trophy runner-up finishes. A record 14 Para Poomsae athletes also set new participation and medal benchmarks. With momentum building and depth emerging across the pathway, attention now turns to September's World Poomsae Championships in Chuncheon, South Korea.
As we reach the midpoint of 2026, I want to take a moment to reflect on what has been one of the most rewarding and significant quarters in recent memory […]
