HONG KONG, China (Dec 3, 2024) - Sophia Liu, Evelyn Cheung and Emma Navarro are already stars in Poomsae Taekwondo. They comprise the United States of America Female Team in the Cadet age bracket which soared to gold at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, China.
They produced a very mature performance in their final against Chinese Taipei at the Hong Kong Coliseum, and that maturity is evident as they reflect on their journeys to becoming world champions.
The three athletes are all from different states – Liu lives in New York, Cheung in Nevada and Navarro in California – yet their togetherness is also clear to see.
Rewind a couple of years and Liu and Cheung, who share the same coach, were looking for another team-mate to compete with them. They encountered Navarro participating as an individual in a competition, and it became a natural fit.
“I feel like Taekwondo plays a big role in our relationship and how we connect, because we have different personalities. I have totally different hobbies, I like to draw, sit and watch TV, Emma is really active, and Evie is kind of in-between,” Liu explained.
“We have different hobbies and extra-curriculars, but Taekwondo really brings us together. Taekwondo is a big part of each of our lives, and we can connect with each other using Taekwondo which helps a lot.
“I am very grateful for these two girls, because from my experience with other teams, I feel like I am more compatible with these girls and we work really well. I never had an easier time communicating with these two girls, and they’re really understanding. I’m really grateful to have this opportunity to even be here.”
Having a strong connection off from the field of play has been just as important as the trio’s synchronisation on it, as Cheung outlined.
“Having a good relationship is very important. Of course we’re human too, we’re not perfect, but I feel like because we’ve known each other for so long that plays a part in it,” she said.
“We have some arguments from time-to-time but we learn from it and we make up afterwards, and I feel like having a good strong consistent relationship is helpful.”
Navarro concurs that the trio complement each other extremely well.
“I feel like we were pretty synchronised in our first training. We had some hardships, we had some rough times because the nervousness was getting to us, but I think we’re compatible for each other and I feel like because of our past competitions that just makes us better for each other,” she added.
Liu also travelled to Hong Kong, China to compete in individual competition, earning a bronze medal. While doubling up has provided an additional challenge for the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, she insisted this was easily overcome because of how closely she works with her team-mates.
“I think communication played a really big part in our team. We do get irritated with each other, but we always find a way to work it out. We always text each other about when we are going to train when it comes tournaments. We only get to see each other two or three times each tournament, so communication played a really big role,” Liu said.
“My two team-mates travelled all the way here for team, but I do individual and team so I had to find time to practise my individual and also practise my team. Even though for individual I had to work really hard, I also wanted to be with my team so we can get a better result.
“Trying to find the best time for them and the best time for me was hard, but I am really glad that because of our good communication skills we were able to pull through that struggle and it wasn’t that hard for us, so I felt that really worked.”
Cheung added: “I think as a team, our communication is pretty good. We’re good at planning where to meet, when to meet, when training starts, and we balance each other out.”
The three athletes each had different routes to becoming World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships gold medallists.
Liu is from a family with a strong Taekwondo background, as her dad teaches at his own Dojang in New York. For her, the Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to practise at home together, and she began to see improvements in her techniques and performances.
When living in California, Cheung saw a flyer advertising Taekwondo at a Dojang and began practising at recreational level. She later discovered the Dowongyuleui Worldwide Poomsae Team, which helped to set her on the road to glory.
Navarro has an especially remarkable tale of where her passion for Taekwondo began.
“When I was younger, I was really active, I liked to play around, so I tried to do those. I would jump off the couch and do the kicks,” she said.
“My dad saw that I have the potential to do sparring, and that’s when I started.”
At her first Dojang, Navarro learned Kyorugi, but it was after moving to Team Elite USA that she began developing and excelling in Poomsae.
Navarro also practises flag football, volleyball, basketball, track running and cross country, but it is in Taekwondo that she has triumphed on the global stage.
“We were the number one in the nation before now, but now we’re number one in the world, that’s a huge accomplishment for all of us. It’s crazy, I still can’t believe it!” she exclaimed.
Liu, Cheung and Navarro have felt the warmth of the support from their fellow athletes at the Hong Kong Coliseum, and have been moved by the volume of good luck and congratulatory messages they received from home in the USA.
“I want to thank all my supporters because I know when I was competing with the time difference, it was around 3 or 4am back in the US,” Liu said.
“My mum texted me straight after the competition and said she was proud of me, and I was like ‘what time is it’?
“Two minutes later, I get texts from so many friends – they were also up even though they had school tomorrow, and just wanted to support me which is crazy.”
Navarro added: “I am grateful for my friends, school friends, Taekwondo friends. I am so grateful that they took their time to support and watch me.”
Cheung is especially grateful to her family who travelled to Hong Kong, China to support her: “I am just very grateful and blessed to have a family who will stick by my side no matter what.”
The three athletes hope their success can inspire more young people in the USA and beyond to practise Poomsae Taekwondo.
“I hope we can inspire others. I have some older girls who I look up to, not just in the US but other countries, and I it would be really cool if our team was one that somebody else looked up to,” Cheung said.
Navarro added: “We have little kids looking up to us already, and we’re barely 12! I bet when we are older, we are going to have even people who are older than us looking up to us. I think this really helped others to build up their courage that they can do anything in the world, as long as they put work into it. You can become a world champion, a national champion, anything you want as long as you put 110% into it.”
The World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships provides a stage for athletes to shine in age brackets raging from Cadet (ages 12-14) through to Over 65s, and the USA Cadet team have certainly done that in Hong Kong, China.
