KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Pint-sized Pravina Murugan, 10, gold medal winner at the 2nd South Asia International Invitational Taekwondo tournament in India, is optimistic of becoming the country’s top taekwondo exponent one day.

The SJK (T) Kajang student also hopes to represent the country in the international arena after her success at the invitational tournament in Madurai city located at the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India recently.

“My biggest dream is to become a taekwondo master and achieve a lot of success as an exponent. In the academic field, my ambition is to become a teacher.

“I started to learn taekwondo since the age of six. The experience I gained in India was great and something different for me, the exposure was very useful for me,” she told Bernama here today.

The 1st Junior Black Belt (Poom) holder, who is training under Jagoh Taekwondo Academy in Kajang Perdana, bagged the gold in the girl’s flyweight 9-11 years category of the sparring event.

Her father K. Murugan, 44, who is very supportive of his daughter’s journey in martial arts said he would not stop Pravina’s dream of pursuing success in the challenging and tough martial arts sport.

“I will be very happy if she achieves greater success in taekwondo. I will always encourage her to work hard and become successful,” the lorry driver said.

Meanwhile, Pravina’s coach A. Thilagawathy said, the girl was capable of becoming a good taekwondo exponent to strike medals at international events in the future if given proper training and right exposure.

“Yes, she has a bright future in taekwondo,” she said.

According to Thilagawathy, Jagoh Taekwondo Academy retained the overall crown after bagging 16 gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the tournament participated by representatives from host India, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore.

Despite having a high number of taekwondo academies and clubs throughout the country, Malaysia is still facing a drought of medals at the international level.

Grooming and developing talents like Pravina at the grassroots could enhance the country’s prowess in the field and its destiny, at least in the regional and Asian level. — Bernama