2022 National Sports Festival gold medallist, Usman Haruna and his sisters won five medals in the Poomsae event at the ongoing 2023 Korean Ambassador Championship in Abuja on Friday.
Usman Haruna of Classix Taekwondo Academy won 2 gold medals in the men and pair poomsae event, Habibat Haruna won 2 gold medals in the women’s and pair Poomsae while Kudirat Haruna won silver in the women’s poomsae event at the indoor sports hall of the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
In an exclusive interview with www.aclsports.com, Usman Haruna said his performance is an inspiration to younger athletes to develop interest in the poomsae event.
Haruna said, “I feel amazed and give glory to Almighty God; it is a show that my efforts are paying off. Aside from winning a gold medal, my performance has been an inspiration to many more students to develop interest in Poomsea. For this reason, I will be organising camps to develop more grassroots athletes despite still competing; this is a good inspiration for my students at home that I won gold again and boost their intentions to do more.
“I invest heavily in acquiring knowledge; I spend and train. I do not believe I know it all and I am not yet the best; I keep working and my goal is to beat my previous performance. It is a competition against myself and not against anybody; that has been what is pushing me. I also feel I have to present a better view of myself to my students at home”.
Usman Haruna, the Kogi-born athlete said he will no longer have to force his two sisters to train after they won medals in the Korea Ambassador’s Cup.
He said, “Three gold medals and one bronze medal at the Korea Ambassadors Cup means a lot to the Haruna family. The build-up from home has been tedious because I push them to the limit and there is a reward.
“I know sometimes I might be a little hard on them for their training and I am happy they are seeing the dividends of hard work. When they return home, I do not need to force them to train hard because they have reasons to be inspired”.
