A mother and her two young sons who represented Solomon Islands at the 7th Oceania Taekwondo Championship in Fiji from November 25- 27 returned home yesterday with three medals – a gold and two silver.
A USP Fiji based Lecturer Katy Soapi and her two young sons Leo Soapi (seven years old) and Finn Soapi (ten years old) returned home on Tuesday with a great achievement.
Leo and Finn competed in the Kyorugi (sparring) while their mother competed in Poomsae (kate/forms).
Leo snatched gold medal while both Finn and Katy won silver medals.
Katy told Star Sports upon their arrival yesterday at the Honiara International Airport that it was really great to represent the country and to grab three medals in the championship.
“Personally I am really proud of our achievement,’’ she said.
“Especially for my two young kids,’’ she said.
Katy said to represent the country in the championship and to win two silver medals and a gold medal is great achievement for them and the country as a whole.
Katy and her two sons are based in Fiji were Kate is working as a lecturer at USP, Suva.
They are also member of the USP Taekwondo club in Fiji.
Katy said when they heard about the competition set for Fiji, she asked the Solomon Islands Taekwondo if her two sons can team up with team Solomons for the competition.
“Since my sons’ friends were going to represent Fiji in the championship, I kindly ask SI Taekwondo head coach Derick Afu and his assistant John Alick whether if it’s possible if my sons can be included in the Solomons team.’’
“And they were very positive, feedback we receive was great and so Afu and Alick manage to register my sons.’’
Unfortunately Solomon Islands Taekwondo team was not able to make it to the competition due to financial difficulties.
“That’s how we represent Solomon Islands in the competition,’’ she said.
Katy said she was supposed not to compete in the competition but somehow she was asked to take part, that’s how she ended up competed in the championship.
“I really wasn’t going to take part in the first place.’’
“But when they asked me, I said ok I’ll try.
“And it was a proud moment for all of us, that we as a family we took medals in the championship for the country,’’ she added.
Meanwhile Afu and Alick thanked Katy and her two sons for making Solomon Islands Taekwondo proud of their achievement.
They also stressed that it was a great achievement for Taekwondo in the country as we are preparing to host 2023 games in Honiara.
By CROFTON UTUKANA
