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| 2019 SEA Games taekwondo gold medalist Jocel Lyn Ninobla brought home the gold through her series of performance videos submitted online in her age category in the recently concluded 2020 World Taekwondo Online World Poomsae Championships. (Image Source: CNN Philippines) |
Sports is slowly adapting to continue operations and tournaments amidst the recent worldwide health crisis situation such as professional wrestling, mixed martial arts and eSports. With that in mind, WT recently pioneered an online international martial arts competition earlier this month and took into consideration the fact that poomsae is an exhibition sports and does not need actual physical contact. The online competition is as rigorous as the previously organized offline events following a closely monitored process ranging from registration and relaying of instruction and rules to submission of videos and pooling of judges.
How did it work, you might ask? Well, in an interview with SPIN.ph, coach Rani Ortega explained that the Online World Poomsae Championships is like any other tournament sanctioned by WT, but their videos are submitted within a certain deadline. A few days after the end of the registration period, the organizers will post what forms of poomsae they perform and how many rounds will they do based on the number of participants per category which is similar to an actual tournament. Three videos (preliminary, semifinals, and finals) are eventually submitted through email and was judged live through a number of YouTube channels with certified referees monitoring each performance for any error or violation.
Through online trainings, the 2019 SEA Games gold medalist and 23-year old Camarines Sur native was able to defeat over a hundred competitors from around the globe and ruled the Under 30 Female Individual event. Meanwhile, her father June Ninobla, the 2018 Asia Pacific Masters Games champion, brought home the championship title in the Under 60 Male Individual event. It is an intriguing feat for a father and daughter tandem in a different kind of situation where the "new normal" is slowly embraced. Coach Ortega stated that the PTA is set to utilize all available online platforms and services to create a unique system for its athletes as it gears towards the new normal. It will be fairly interesting to see if there is any Filipino athlete who can surpass the history-making journey of the Ninobla father-and-daughter tandem.
