Juliana aiming to kick high in Munich

An East Cork teenager is in Munich today to compete at the ITF World Taekwon-Do Championships.

Juliana Kovaliova from Carrigtwohill weighed in on Tuesday and will fight today (Thursday) at 9am German time, making her East Cork Taekwon-do’s first ever member to take part in the competition.

The 14-year-old black belt was given the chance of a lifetime when a last-minute space became available on the Irish team in her weight division.

Juliana, whose sister is also a black belt in Taekwon-Do, had a tough couple of months of training in the build up to the competition which takes place every two years.

“Juliana is fantastic. She never complains, always gets stuck in, always learning. Her progress has been massive. You need to have that mental strength and that confidence, so all credit to her,” the Senior Instructor at East Cork Taekwon-Do, Richard Forde, said.

The last ITF World Taekwon-Do Championships took place in Citywest, Dublin in 2017 from which Ireland came away with the best overall medal count.