The Taekwondo World Games Korea 2023 are just around the corner, and the Netherlands team is in full preparation to compete in this exciting international event that will take place in South Korea.
The ITF sports team interviewed some members of the team in the run-up to the tournament,
Abel Kramer – Coach
▪️ How does your country reach this International competition?
“We have decided to go to the World Games because we want to show the world Dutch ITF taekwondo and represent by getting gold!“
▪️ How was the previous planning, with previous competitions, physical/sports preparation?
“We’ve planned the whole year for this event, going to a lot of competitions and training as hard and smart as we can.“
▪️ In which sports area is seen with more strengths Break/Fight/patterns) and that individual competitor or country sees as an adversary to respect?
“Were mostly competing in sparring, but we also compete in breaking and patterns, we like to showcase the full spectrum of itf taekwondo.“
▪️ What message do you have for your team before entering the competition?
“I want my team to enjoy the moment, take it all in and show everything that we’ve got, that will be enough to get gold.”
Martin Van Straaten – Competitor
▪️ How was the preparation for World Games Korea 2023?
“The preparation whas good a lot of training in the Netherlands & Belgium and also Germany”
▪️ In what categories does he compete and with what expectation does he reach the competition?
“I compeet senior hyper sparring and breaking“
▪️ What countries do you see as favorites in the championship?
“Favorite I think will be korea for them ist home and you don’t want to lose at you home stadium.”
▪️ Do you have some kind of special preparation before competition day?
“The day before we will do al the basic training talking to each other and enjoying being there in Korea
Expectations will be 3 competitors 5 gold”
Niels Willems – Competitor
▪️ How was the preparation for World Games Korea 2023?
“The preparation was really good, we trained a lot and we really improved on much things”
▪️ In what categories does he compete and with what expectation does he reach the competition?
“I am competing in both patterns and sparring and i expect i will do well in both to be honest.”
▪️ What countries do you see as favorites in the championship?
“The country i see a favourite is definetely the Netherlands, we are just different”
▪️ Do you have some kind of special preparation before competition day?
“Finally, i do not have any special things to do begore the competition day other than just relaxing.”