Lian Chae, an eight-year-old Taekwondo superstar took home two medals at the Alberta Taekwondo Association’s annual K.H. Min Invitational Taekwondo Championship on October 15 in Edmonton.

DiscoverAirdrie spoke to Lian and his father Chun about Lian's Taekwondo experience. Originally from New York, the Chae family moved to Airdrie four years ago, and that's when Lian first started learning Taekwondo at the Airdrie World Class Taekwondo Academy from his father who is a Grand Master and his mother, who is a Master.

At the championship, eight-year-old Lian won a gold medal in Poomsae (an established sequence of attack and defence forms) and a silver medal for Sparring.

"It was awesome" stated Lian after winning the medals. He plans on attending more and more tournaments with the end goal of making it to the Olympics.

Like most sports, COVID did prohibit Lian from attending different kinds of Taekwondo events as most were online.

Chun, who has been coaching Taekwondo for over 16 years hopes to see his son keep growing his love for the sport.

"My son is very talented in Taekwondo, so I'm gonna keep supporting him."

The Chae family have their hopes and eyes set on more championships next year while hoping some of them will be in Calgary.

Lian who practices his craft every day mentioned it can be very hard on certain days, but he loves the sport.

Although Chun wants his son to excel at the sport, he wants to make sure Lian continues to love Taekwondo.

"He always told me he wants to go to the Olympics and win the gold medal, but, I'm not gonna push him," Chun mentioned he wants his son to grow up and be confident and have a strong mental attitude and he feels Taekwondo can help with that.

Lian mentioned one day in the future, he will be able to beat his dad in a sparring match.

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