Ashok Kumar Lenka, Founder of Hawrang Academy and National Secretary General of Veterans India Sports, and Sabitri Pradhan, Superintendent of Police in Sikkim. They have been chosen to represent India in the World Taekwondo Senior Poomsae Championship 2024 in the Under-60 age category. This couple will represent India in the Pair Poomsae event at the World Senior Poomsae Championship. It will be held in Hong Kong from November 30th to December 4th, 2024.
India Taekwondo held national trials from September 20 to 22, 2024, at the Divisional Sports Complex in Nasik. Both have over four decades of Taekwondo practice experience, are Kukkiwon Masters, and have won international Taekwondo medals in Poomsae. This remarkable feat of representing India in the World Championship. It follows World Taekwondo’s decision to introduce several senior age categories Under-50 and Under-60 Pairs. Along with Group Competitions, they will be at the next World Championship in Hong Kong.
It is a first in the globe and a historic time to represent the country at such an event. Poomsae in Taekwondo Sports is a set pattern of Taekwondo Attack and Defence motions developed in Kukkiwon, South Korea’s Taekwondo Headquarters. In total, 16 designated Poomsaes are present to master and demonstrate during the event. The total marks are awarded out of ten. Accuracy carries four points, while presentation carries six.
Indian taekwondo’s veterans challenge the young guns
Is India’s Taekwondo future overshadowed by a veteran duo? Furthermore, 6 marks are divided into three categories: (i) Speed and Power (2 points), (ii) Rhythm and Tempo (2 marks), and (iii) Expression of Energy (2 marks). Pair Poomsae is an event in which one man and one female of the same age group must execute a predetermined poomsae jointly, which is randomly picked by the computer during competition.
Ashok Kumar Lenka is an Indian Air Force veteran, an avid sportsman, and an adventurer. Not only has he served on the Air Force Command Team. But he is also a qualified mountaineer who has climbed 11 mountain peaks in various Himalayan ranges, he was nominated for the IAF’s Tenzing Norgay National Land Adventure Award. He is from Bhadrak, Odisha, and began his Taekwondo adventure in 1989. Sabitri Pradhan is now an IPS officer from the state of Sikkim.
