Philippines wins gold at World Taekwondo Junior Championships

THE Philippines took home their first gold medal on the fourth day of the 2024 World Taekwondo Junior Championships, held in Chuncheon, South Korea. The person behind said win was none other than martial artist Tachiana Keizha Mangin.

To secure the gold, Mangin went up against Hyanggi Kim in the deciding round of the women’s 49kg finals. The score was 7-6, with Mangin taking the lead. Prior to this, Mangin won the first round, while Kim won the second. The scores were 14- and 4-3, respectively.

On Facebook, World Taekwondo wrote that Mangin had managed to end a 28-year wait for the Philippines to win a gold medal at the event. 

“Prior to her success, no athlete from the Philippines had stood on top of the podium at this event since Alex Borromeo at the inaugural edition in Barcelona in 1996,” they added.

Mangin is currently only in the 12th grade, studying at the University of Santo Tomas, and has surely made her country proud.

About Mangin

Mangin first went into sports when she was just five years old. After her parents enrolled her in Taekwondo, she quickly fell in love with the sport, and has been playing ever since.

As per the website Taekwondo Data, Mangin has been in seven tournaments and 17 registered fights. In those 17 fights, she won in 9 of them.

She won a silver medal during the 2023 Korean Open, and bronze medals in the 2019 and 2022 Asian Championships, as well as the 2019 World Championships. 

In the past, Mangin has said that her biggest dream was to compete in the 2028 Olympics; this has since become her motivation to bring out the best in herself.

Given her track record thus far, it is highly likely that this dream may soon come true.