Twenty rising stars will represent Australia at the World Taekwondo Cadet Championships in Bosnia and Herzegovina next month after the national team was selected in Morayfield, Queensland.
The selection event saw over 80 Cadets battle it out for a spot in one of the 20 divisions on offer, with athletes who placed first in their nominated division selected for the team.
Flying the flag for Australia in August will be Lawson Knight (One Taekwondo School), Theodore Kaing (Notorious Martial Arts), Kerim Yilmaz (Olympic Taekwondo Centre), Lucas Lai (Notorious Martial Arts), Elijah Wu (Martial Arts Spirit), Jayden Vuong (Revolution TKD & BJJ), Bilal Atay (Hall's Taekwondo), Jack Orchard (Martial Arts Spirit), Leonardo Angell (Musa Taekwondo), Kian Jones (Adelaide Taekwondo Academy), Matilda Purvis (Adelaide Taekwondo Academy), Kierah Ly-Diep (Forza Taekwondo), Mackenzie Macdonald (Hall's Taekwondo), Lacie Gleeson (Hall's Taekwondo) Andrea Ishac (Hall's Taekwondo), Chelsea Gomez (Taya Taekwondo), Phoebe Fan (Adelaide Taekwondo Academy), Elle-Maree Ghetto-Tarantolo (Irontiger Australia), Zahra Karaki (Global Martial Arts AU) and Akon Baak (Total Taekwondo Academy).
Olympic gold medallist Dongmin Cha has been appointed Australian Cadet National Coach as part of his role in delivering his bilateral coach/athlete development partnership between Kukkiwon, the Korean Embassy and Australian Taekwondo.
Rounding out the coaching group will be Jerry Moraitis (Halls Taekwondo), Ruth Hock (Adelaide Taekwondo Academy) and Abby Sangalang (Taya Taekwondo), who will provide further support to Dongmin leading into the competition and while overseas.
The World Taekwondo Cadet Championships will be held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovnia, from August 28 to August 31, 2023.
To see all results for the 2023 World Taekwondo Cadet Championships Selection event, please click here.
The Australian Poomsae Team has returned from the 2026 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Chuncheon, South Korea, with three medals: one gold and two silver.
Over five days of competition at the largest World Poomsae Championships ever held, Australian athletes made history in both the cadet and masters divisions, and pushed deeper into the draw across more age groups than in recent campaigns.
When Taekwondo opens in Dakar this November, the green and gold will be seen on the mat for the very first time. Mackenzie Macdonald, a teenager from Wandong in regional Victoria, is Australia's first representative in Taekwondo at the Youth Olympic Games.
Following the results of the 2026 Australian Taekwondo AGM, Hassan Iskandar OAM steps into the role of new Australian Taekwondo Present. Saltis and Badreddine re-join the board for another term after a successful re-election.
