Darren Yap wins poomsae joint-bronze for S’pore’s first taekwondo medal at Asian Games

NAGOYA – By his own admission, Singapore taekwondo exponent Darren Yap is so competitive that even losing at scissors-paper-stone would annoy him. What more the slip at the 2023 SEA Games that cost him a medal.

Those setbacks, however, have also fuelled him. Ahead of major competitions, he would put in up to three two-hour training sessions daily. When he was doing his national service, he made the trek from Jalan Bahar to Whampoa every weekday evening to train before booking in.

On Oct 1, all his hard work paid off when he clinched a men’s individual poomsae joint-bronze to become Singapore’s first medallist in the sport at the Asian Games.

The sport has been dominated by the South Koreans since it became part of the Games programme in 1986.

At the Toyohashi City General Gymnasium, he scored 9.0400 points to finish behind South Korean Yun Kyu-sung (9.3800), Thai Navin Pinthasute (9.2800) and Filipino Derick Yape (9.0900), with third and fourth-placed athletes awarded joint-bronzes.

The elated 22-year-old said: “This means a lot. I hope when people see Singapore in the bout list now, they will get worried. Back home, I hope I’m able to inspire a new generation of players who will want to train and be able to do what I do, or even better.”

At the 2023 edition in Hangzhou, China, the poomsae events featured a single-elimination tournament format.

But this time, they were divided into two semi-final rounds of eight athletes who performed recognised (rigid and structured movements done in silence) and freestyle (explosive moves with mandatory acrobatics choreographed to music) forms. They were evaluated by a judging panel for accuracy, technicality and presentation.

The top four from each-semi-final then advanced to the final.

Earlier in the day, the Nanyang Technological University business undergraduate tallied 8.8300 points to finish joint-second out of eight competitors in the first semi-final to progress.

However, compatriot Nicole Khaw placed fifth in her women’s individual poomsae semi-final with a score of 8.3900 and did not make the final.

After completing his stronger freestyle routine with a score of 9.0800 to add to his recognised poomsae score of 9.0000 in the final, the Singaporean ranked second overall. With just two finalists left, he belatedly realised he was assured a joint-bronze and hugged national poomsae head coach Lee Na-lee.

He then gave a thumbs-up to his proud parents Ronnie Yap and Gloria Mok in the stands. The day was a nerve-racking one for them, as his father’s heart rate “went up from 50-plus to 138” and his mum could only bear to watch his performances through her fingers “like a horror movie”.

Later, Ronnie shared that his son’s taekwondo journey began at four on a whim.

The 59-year-old, who runs a family business, said: “Darren, his older brother Bryan, and I were eating at a coffee shop when we saw a taekwondo school across the road, and the three of us went and signed up. I did taekwondo in my teens but stopped, and I thought it was a good sport for the boys to pick up.”

Darren never wanted to go for international competitions, but after his first at the 2017 Chuncheon Korea Open, the competitive bug took over.

In his major Games debut in 2022, he won a SEA Games men’s poomsae team bronze, but returned home empty-handed from the next edition and the Asian Games in 2023. He rebounded to claim individual bronzes at the 2023 World Combat Games and 2025 SEA Games.

At the previous Asiad in China, he was the first Singaporean taekwondo exponent to compete at the Games since 2010, and lost in the round of 16.

His father also contributed to his success later on. In 2010, Ronnie opened the Induk Taekwondo school and recruited Lee, who saw potential in Darren and took him to South Korea to train under specialised freestyle coaches during the school holidays.

A former South Korean athlete, Lee coached the Japan and Iran national teams before taking over the Singapore squad in 2019.

Likening training camps there to a buffet line, he said: “Compared to the smaller community in Singapore, Darren can experience and learn many different styles there, and he can choose what is best and make his own bento.

“We also went to South Korea for a two-week training camp to prepare for both the Asian Games and the World Poomsae Championships that ended 10 days earlier.

“We had to be careful with the body conditioning because freestyle and recognised poomsae are as different as sprint and marathon. We needed to find balance and not over-train in one aspect to avoid injury.”

On Oct 2, Darren will turn his attention to the new virtual taekwondo mixed individual event, which involves athletes donning virtual reality headgear and motion-tracking devices against an opponent. The aim is to score the highest level on their power gauge by the end of the time period.

After claiming his first medal, Darren’s competitive spirit could take him to the podium again.

He said: “It is a new sport for most players here, and anything can happen. I just want to enjoy the process, and we’ll see where it leads.”