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2025 Australian Taekwondo Awards Gala Night

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Congratulations to our Team TAYA Athlete Diego Querubin for being awarded by Australian Taekwondo as the 2025 Best Male Junior Athlete of the Year.

A well deserved recognition for all the outstanding achievements, technical skills, hard work and dedication Diego have shown throughout the year.
Recent performance highlights for Diego were:
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2025 Korea Open, Chuncheon, South Korea
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2025 Oceania President’s Cup, Gold Coast QLD
  • Gold Medal Juniors -48kg division – 2025 Australian Open, Gold Coast QLD
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2025 Korea Open, Chuncheon South Korea
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2024 Australian Open, Brisbane QLD
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2024 Oceania President’s Cup, Brisbane QLD
  • Gold Medal Juniors -48kg division – 2025 Australian National Championships, Adelaide SA
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg and -48kg division – 2025 Gold Coast Open
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2024 Australian National Championships, Brendale QLD
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2024 NSW State Selection for Nationals
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2024 NSW State Championships
  • Gold Medal Juniors -45kg division – 2024 Gold Coast Open
 
Congratulations also to our High Performance Coach Ms Abby for being selected as a Finalist for the 2025 Ross Hartnett Performance Coach of the Year.
This is the second time Ms Abby was recognised for this Performance Coach Award with the first one back in the inaugural AT awards in 2022.
Coach Abby is a proven leader in athlete development from grassroots youth, cadets, juniors and seniors with a keen eye for refining talent and driving performance.

Coach Abby has the expertise, passion and leadership to shape the next generation of Australian Taekwondo athletes in NSW as a Performance Pathway Program Coach (PPP) since 2021 and has benefited from the 2021 AIS Elevate Coaching Course for her professional development as a high performance coach. Ms Abby has also served as a National Team Coach for 5 previous World Championships in 2022 (Juniors and Cadets), 2023 (Cadets), 2024 (Juniors) and 2025 (Cadets). She has also coached at National PPP Tours in Europe (Dutch and Belgium Opens), North America (Canada and US Opens) and Korea Training and Korea Open over the past 4 years producing podium finishes. Ms Abby was also recently selected by Australian Taekwondo for the AIS Aspire Coach Course on 13-15 October 2025 which will further provide learning insights into high performance coaching. 

Well done Diego and Ms Abby! You are both an inspiration and we are so proud of you!
 
      
 
      
 
       

2025 Australian Open

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Excellent results for Team TAYA @ 2025 Australian Open with our 10 athletes bringing home a medal tally of 7 medals - 4 Golds, 2 Silvers, 1 Bronze:

Chelsea Gomez - Gold, Junior -46kg
Ayva Soteriou - Gold, Junior -55kg
Diego Querubin - Gold, Junior -48kg
Vasili Soteriou - Gold, Cadet -65kg
Mia Er - Cadet, Silver, Cadet -41kg
Kiera Malicdem - Silver, Cadet -37kg
Danica De Leon - Bronze, Cadet -55kg
Sofia Querubin - R16 Senior -53kg
Aarav Menezes - QF, Cadet -37kg
Heleni Moa - Bronze, Cadet -44kg

We are so proud of the team performances, team camaraderie and solid team culture. Wisdom gained, lessons learned to bounce back and improve and additional international competition experience obtained specially for our new black belt cadets at their first international competitions.

Thank you to our coaches for your constant guidance and instilling positive growth mindset and the parents for your unwavering support and encouragement.

Great opportunity to fight back-to-back G3/G2 competitions this week at Gold Coast.

Rest and recover.
Safe travels back home to Sydney.
Well done and congratulations to you all.
See you all back in classes, show-and-tell presentation and training on Wednesday to start preparations for upcoming Australian National Championships in Adelaide from 3-5 October 2025.

 

2025 NSW State Championships and National Selections

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Well done to Team TAYA for the fantastic results at the NSW State Championships and State Selections for Nationals held on 10 August 2025 at Duncray Velodrome in Bass Hill with a tally of 20 medals and earning 4th place overall kyorugi ranking amongst 32 clubs - 

8 Golds
6 Silvers
6 Bronzes
 
There were some exceptional performances and also lots of learning insights and experiences gained by our developing and grassroots athletes.
Most of our black belts did not compete at this event and had exemption approvals for qualifications to Nationals as they will be competing at Oceania President’s Cup and Australian Open this week.
 
Thank you to our coaches, black belts and parents for your unwavering support and encouragement.
It was inspiring to see our strong team culture and team bonding.
 
Congratulations to our NSW State Champions: 
       
 
       
  

2025 Oceania President’s Cup

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Fantastic results for Team TAYA @ 2025 Oceania President’s Cup with our 10 athletes bringing home a medal tally of 8 medals - 4 Golds, 2 Silvers, 2 Bronzes:

Aarav Menezes - Gold, Cadet -37kg
Diego Querubin - Gold, Junior -45kg
Ayva Soteriou - Gold, Junior -52kg
Vasili Soteriou - Gold, Cadet -65kg
Chelsea Gomez - Silver, Junior -46kg
Mia Er - Cadet, Silver, Cadet -41kg
Heleni Moa - Bronze, Cadet -44kg
Danica De Leon - Bronze, Cadet -55kg
Sofia Querubin - R16 Senior -53kg
Kiera Malicdem - QF Cadet -37kg

We are so proud of the team performances, team camaraderie and solid team culture.
Thank you to our coaches for your guidance and unwavering support and the parents for your loud cheers and encouragement.

Great opportunity to fight back-to-back G3/G2 4-day competitions at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre, Queensland.
Aiming to reset, recover, improve and achieve set goals at the Australian Open over the next two days.
Well done and congratulations to you all.
Wishing you all the best at Australian Open!!!

 

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2025 Korea Open

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Team TAYA @ 2025 Korea Open
 
Team TAYA travelled to Chuncheon, Korea with the Australian Taekwondo National Pathways Team and some Performance Pathway Program Athletes from 5 other clubs and had a wonderful time at the Korea Open held at the Songam Sports Town Air Dome from 15-20 July 2025.
 
Our Team TAYA Athletes results are as follows:
 
> Sofia Querubin - Senior -53kg had a tough preliminary R32 match and lost to No 1 Seed and eventual Gold Medallist from China 0-2 sets on day 1, Sofia was also a member of the Australian National Pathways Team who competed at this event
 
> Chelsea Gomez - Junior -44kg was unable to replicate her huge success in 2022 when she won Korea Open in her cadet division, this time losing to the eventual Gold Medalist from Korea in 0-2 sets and settling for Bronze Medal.
 
> Diego Querubin - Junior -45kg progressed to SF after Korean opponent withdrew in QF and won against two tough opponents from Kazakhstan SF won over 3 sets and finals in 0-2 sets fulfilling his (and our) dream of being Korea Open Champion.
 
> Mia Er - cadets -37kg won her preliminary R16 match vs Korean opponent toe-to-toe but lost QTF to the eventual Gold Medallist in 0-2 sets with a very close 1st set but Korean pulled through in 2nd set.
Mia then joined the 3x3 Team Challenge and set up AUS with an 11-0 lead vs Mexico in the opening set with AUS winning the team challenge with score of 54-52 vs Mexico to fight winner between Korea and USA. AUS then fought Korea winning 64-42 to win Gold in the 3x3 Team Challenge. Well done Mia and AUS Team.
 
> Ayva Soteriou - Juniors -49kg has shown tenacity, composure, strong defence and good technical game, fought 3 tough fights QF vs Japan R1 8-4, R2 14-6, SF vs Singapore R1 6-5, R2 2-14, R3 20-19 a cliffhanger scoring spinning hook kick which was the game changer and the Finals vs Korea R1 4-7, R2 16-19 and earned a Silver Medal.
 
> Vasili Soteriou - Cadets -61kg has held back Korean opponent in SF match and was so close to progressing to finals with both sets tied at 5-5, 1-1 settling for a Bronze Medal.
 
Well done Team TAYA!!!
Congratulations on your individual results, some of which did not go your way but you have gained valuable learning opportunities and international competition experience to assist with your growth, improvement and continuous development.
 
Thank you to our Athletes for showing tenacity, indomitable spirit, technical and tactical skills, maturity and modesty. Your training camp in Korea in April has improved your game and mindset and has shown through on most of your fights at Korea Open.
 
Thank you to our dear Coach Abby Sangalang for all the hard work with pre-comp training, brilliant coaching, chaperone and team management, your incredible passion for our athletes’ high performance development and for your dedication, support and empathy ensuring happiness, wellbeing and safety of the team.
 
Thank you to our Team TAYA parents and families for your unwavering support, trust and encouragement.
 
Congratulations to all the Australians who competed at this event and thank you to the other Coaches and Ani Smith for all your contributions to the wider AUS Team.
 
       
  1. 2025 Sydney Taekwondo Festival
  2. 2025 ASMA Open
  3. Australian National Team Selections for 2025 World Championships
  4. 2025 World Cadet Championships