A 12-Year-Old Pakistani Wins Three Medals at the International Taekwondo Competition

Ayesha Ayaz, a 12-year-old Pakistani competitor, won three medals on Monday in the International Taekwondo Championship being held in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 12-year-old, who is from Sawat, astounded the crowd with her extraordinary abilities throughout the competition by taking home the medals in the Under-12 division.

She overcame competitors from three nations in the 42kg division, earning one silver and two bronze medals. The competition featured more than 2,200 participants from 40 different nations.

Ayesha received a gold medal at the Al-Fujria International competition in Dubai earlier this year, adding to her tally of seven medals from competitions throughout the world. She was the lone female participant from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the competition who travelled to Thailand.

A fourteen-person Pakistani taekwondo team will compete for the nation at the 19th Asian Games, which will start on September 23 in Hangzhou, China.

Ten of the fourteen will be funded by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), and the remaining four will have their travel costs covered by the Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF).

Two officials' journeys, Lt Col (retd) Raja Wasim Ahmad (President PTF) and Omar Saeed (CEO TF), would be self-sponsored, according to information available to The News.

The taekwondo federation will support athletes Mazhar Abbas, a male, and Fateemah Tuz Zahra, a female.

Ten competitors and officials will be sponsored by the PSB. These include the Iranian coach Yousef Karami, the team's manager Saba Shamim, the Korean coach Seongoh Choi, and the female coach Najia Rasool.

The PSB will fund all six of these athletes: Haroon Khan, Mohammad Arbaz Khan, Hamza Omar Saeed, Naqash Hamdani, Naila, and Aqdasullah Qadeer.

Six officials and eight athletes make up the roster of 14, hence just 55% of the contingent will compete for medals at the Games. Pakistan has a little chance of taking home a medal in the taekwondo competition at the Asian Games because they have never won a medal at the Asian Games level.

It is hoped that the squad would make an impact in the 19th Asian Games in light of the significant financial and training support provided by the Ministry and PSB.

The 19th Asian Games Taekwondo tournament will be place at the Lin'an Gymnasium in the Lin'an District, with up to 13 gold medals on the line.