Aspiring Taekwondo Stars Battle for Gold & Glory At 13th Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship

The 13th Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship 2018 saw rising Taekwondo exponents vie for glory during the Grand Finals held at Stadium Juara, Bukit Kiara.

Aspiring Taekwondo exponents battle for gold at the Grand Finals of the 13th Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship 2018

First launched in 2006 with the support of Taekwondo Malaysia (WTF), the Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship provides a platform to develop young talents at the grassroots level by giving them a first taste of competitive Taekwondo. This Championship is aligned with Nestlé’s commitment to encourage more active lifestyles amongst Malaysians.

Aspiring Taekwondo exponents battle for gold at the Grand Finals of the 13th Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship 2018

This year, Koryo Taekwondo Club once again emerged victorious and brought home the Tunku Imran Challenge Trophy. They clinched the trophy with 11 gold, 8 silver and 17 bronze medals while Smart MA finished in second place with 4 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. Ahmad Muhaimin bin M. Al-Hafiidz from A Team won the boys’ ages 10-12 best performance award while Wei Jia Ying Cherry from Singapore was named the girls’ best performance winner. The winners for the ages 7-9 category best performance awards were RSB Perak’s Muhammad Adi Iskandar (boys) and TYC’s Nurul Alya Qistina (girls).

YB Encik Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Minister of Youth and Sports [left] officiating the closing ceremony and medal presentation of the 13th Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship 2018 while Mr. Chew Soi Ping, Executive Director, Sales, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad [centre, in yellow] looks on

YB Encik Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Minister of Youth and Sports, who officiated the medal presentation and closing ceremony said, “Sports plays an important role in the development and character building of youth. Over the years, the Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship has grown from strength to strength, and this competitive platform has provided thousands of young talents with the opportunity to develop their potential.”

“It is extremely encouraging to see the contribution that Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® has made for the development of young talent in Taekwondo through this championship. With such strong support and structured programmes at the grassroots level, I am confident that Malaysia will continue to develop top-quality athletes who will make our nation proud,” added YB Encik Syed Saddiq.

Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship also aims at encouraging children to be more physically active in sports.

According to Mr. Chew Soi Ping, Executive Director, Sales, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad, “A 2015 study on the breakfast habits of Malaysian children revealed that 1 in 3 have low physical activity levels. We aim to help encourage children to be more active. Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship offers young boys and girls from all across the country an opportunity to develop their love for sports and hone their sporting spirits.”

“In addition, this platform nurtures future champions. As testament to this, Rozaimi bin Rozali, a former bronze medal winner of this championship, brought great honour to our nation by winning gold in the 2017 SEA Games Kuala Lumpur,” added Mr. Chew.

Triumphant: The young exponents from Koryo Taekwondo Club celebrate their victory for the second consecutive year

A total of 384 medal winners from 21 clubs competed for the coveted Nestlé KOKO KRUNCH® Junior Taekwondo Championship Tunku Imran Challenge Trophy. Of the 384 participants, 121 represented Central region, 78 were from Southern region, 93 from Northern region, 86 from East Coast region, and 6 from Singapore. The Grand Finals also saw a participation of 193 girls and 191 boys, with 161 exponents aged 7 – 9 years old and 223 exponents aged 10 – 12 years old. The overall Championship this year had a total of 2,000 participants across Malaysia and Singapore and is now an annual event in the WTF calendar.