KUALA LUMPUR — Who would have thought that her favourite pastime of watching Korean dramas would turn out to be a great help for national taekwondo exponent Nurul Hidayah Abdul Karim to communicate with her coach Jin Jun-beom.
Nurul Hidayah, who competes in the poomsae event, said she was not the only one when it comes to this as several squad mates had also been catching up on Korean serials to have a better command of the 29-year-old South Korean coach’s mother tongue.
“I have been under his (Jin) tutelage since 2017.
“He uses a lot of basic language so it’s quite easy to understand, and sometimes just through body language we get what he’s trying to convey,” she said.
Nurul Hidayah was speaking to reporters after a visit by 2022 Hongzhou Asian Games chef de mission Datuk Chong Kim Fatt at the National Sports Council (NSC) in Bukit Jalil here today.
Her basic understanding of the Korean language also helped her tremendously while she was undergoing a two-month training stint in South Korea recently in preparation for the Asiad that will take place from September 23 to October 8.
The 25-year-old said she was currently 90% prepared for her maiden Asian Games.
“I trained a lot with the club and several universities while in South Korea.
“The training there was more advanced and detailed, so I got to fix what was lacking,” she said.
The Bintulu-born athlete, however, said she was still getting used to her freestyle performance which must be executed if she makes it into the semifinals and finals in Hangzhou.
To be accompanied by music, she said there are five elements to be featured for the freestyle, the ‘jumping sidekick’, ‘spinning kick’ and other acrobatic movements to name a few.
“Up to the quarterfinals, exponents only need to do poomsae, but for the semifinal and final there has to be freestyle as well,” added Nurul Hidayah, who is eyeing at least a semifinal spot in Hangzhou.
In addition to Nurul Hidayah, the Asiad national taekwondo squad will also feature male exponent Jason Loo Jun Wei, also in the individual poomsae event. — September 13, 2023