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.
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.
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 […]
