BY JOY OFASIA
FOR 4 years, Lohana Muria has consistently perfected and practiced her skill in Taekwondo at Yun’s Taekwondo Academy Solomon Islands in Honiara.
In a ceremony this year, Lohana became the fourth female in the Academy’s history to earn a first-degree black belt from the academy.
The award was presented to Lohana, 15, with local martial artists in attendance to show their gratitude for Lohana’s achievement.
The criteria for earning a first-degree black belt is quite hard. From white belt to the first-degree black belt, students must pass promotional tests to reach the rank.
“Since I joined the Yun’s Taekwondo academy, I learned new things and one thing I love most was getting to know new people as I continued with my journey,” Lohana told Solomon Women.
In fact, this year, she was selected among the 32 Taekwondo local athletes that have been awarded scholarships to train under the Solomon Islands National Institution of Sports (SINIS) Centre, High Performance Program.
For now, she had been training with the Solomon Islands Taekwondo team for the past months in preparation towards the Pacific Games 2023 in Honiara.
“I am looking forward to the upcoming Pacific Games 2023 in Honiara and I have been working hard in my trainings towards this prestigious sports event,” she expressed.
Besides training in martial arts, Lohana currently undergone her secondary level education at the Saint Secondary College in Honiara.
Yun’s Taekwondo Academy, Principle instructor and Solomon Island World Taekwondo Union Vice President Joses Duddley praised Lohana as one of her best female black belt students at Yun’s Taekwondo Academy.
“She is a great martial artist and as a female black belt she is an inspiration to the other female student at Yuns Taekwondo Academy.
“At times, I allow her to take the junior classes so as to build up her confidence and all I can say is that she is one of my best black belt students at my Academy,” Duddley said.
Lohana later encourages young girls like her to engage also in Taekwondo sport because it is fun, interesting in many ways and also most important it is a best way to learn techniques of self-defencing.
Tae kwon do is a Korean martial art that translates to “the way of foot and fist.” There are different branches of tae kwon do—the most widely known are World Taekwondo (WT) and the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF)—and they differ in terms of style and philosophies.
