Asunción, Agencia IP.- The Paraguayan martial arts delegation secured three gold medals, two silver medals in the Individual Categories, and three gold medals in the Team Category, competing against 42 countries worldwide.
Paraguay, thanks to the excellent preparation work carried out by the team’s coach and Master Principal Master, Viviana Moreyra, reached the podiums with a lot of experience and intelligence in approaching the competition, ultimately showcasing their best performance at this global event, demonstrating a high level of both physical and technical prowess of its athletes among the 42 participating countries from Europe, Asia, and Africa, emerging as the top-performing South American country.
Carlos Germán Núñez, the 2023 champion, obtained gold in Forms and Combat. He participated in his first world championship in the discipline in Brazil in 2017, followed by Korea in 2019 and Africa in 2022, where he won the first gold medal.
Débora Vera added two silver medals in Forms and Women’s Combat in 2023. Ailín Valiente earned a gold medal in Forms and a silver medal in Women’s Individual Combat.
The 11th edition of the Martial Arts World Championship took place from December 9 to 20 in Mombasa, Kenya, Africa.
This discipline, derived from martial arts, has been practiced in Paraguay since 2008. In just a few years, in 2011, the Association was formed, and thanks to the growing number of enthusiasts, it was later established as a Federation in 2017.
Three hundred fifty athletes are registered with the Federation and are part of high-performance programs. It is developed through the Sports Schools of the Paraguayan Tong IL Moo Do Federation in collaboration with the National Sports Secretariat (SND), expanding 2023 to four educational institutions where children from the initial level to the 6th grade practice. There are plans to further expand to more educational institutions in 2024. Additionally, this discipline is practiced in seven well-known clubs in the capital.
Tong Il Moo Do is a sport that originated in Korea in 1979. Its founder, Dr. Joon Ho Seuk, originally a judo master, was inspired by the unification principles of the two Koreas and the unity of mind and body, creating a style with which he could contribute to that idea of unification in martial arts.
Carlos Teodosio Núñez: What significance do these achievements have?
We consider these sports achievements of great importance because sports, from one perspective, represent a common language among all human beings anywhere in the world. Achieving these levels of sports development in lesser-known disciplines like martial arts shows the world the quality of individuals from our country in physical and technical training, highlighting Paraguay’s current global standing.
The trend in this sport is set by the front-runners, in this case, our country, regarding the best preparation among participating countries in these global events.
This achievement is an excellent commitment for Paraguay, as we must maintain and update it according to the generations entering as replacements.
These international triumphs confirmed and established Paraguay’s recognition as a very high standard to be achieved by other countries in this sport.
From an educational and promotional perspective, we have managed to motivate and show beginners in this sport. One can observe the capacity that the practitioner, who is just starting, has to reach his maximum development and achieve the most outstanding personal sporting accomplishments, with the bonus of putting Paraguay’s name in world sports history with these achievements.
What values are instilled in young practitioners through this martial art?
First and foremost, the value of discipline. Discipline is required for those trained in a Dojo or Martial Arts Academy. However, discipline does not mean the same thing in all martial arts. In Tong IL Moo Do, it is measured not only by sports achievements or technical skills but primarily by one’s behavior as a person: the practitioner should be kind, efficient, and supportive at all times.
The Tong IL Moo Do practitioner should understand how to face all situations, whether in victories or defeats, in the face of justice or injustice, and above all, develop the right way to achieve their goals without shortcuts and with much sacrifice.
The key to instilling these clear ideas in children and young people is our educational methodology, which involves constant and repeated practice of positive values that give the practitioner the exact dimension of their goal when choosing martial arts. It guides them to achieve that goal, promotes their progress, contributes to their personal growth, and extends these advances to their family group. And thus, it reaches the entire society where they are involved.
From the perspective of Tong IL Moo Do, what every beginner in our style needs, in summary, is to establish a clear and defined goal and understand that traversing this path of constant growth is, in the end, the actual achievement of the proposed goals, always caring for the effective development of their full humanity.
Could you tell us about the Paraguayan Federation of Tong IL Moo Do?
The Paraguayan Federation of Tong IL Moo Do has classified its actions into two fields that it considers of utmost importance for its constant development and sporting growth at the national level and with generational projection in international competitions.
Therefore, being the referential country of the World Federation in South America, its goal is to arrive in optimal competitive conditions at the 2024 World Championship in the Philippines, scheduled for August/September 2024.
On the national front, it plans to expand the number of educational institutions, including more schools in Asunción.