TONGAN athlete Paula Sitapa (33) won the Gold Medal at the Brick Breaking event at the Taekwondo World Hanmadang 2011 that was held on August 10-13 in Namyangju city at Gyeonggi Province in South Korea.

Paula, who comes from Leimatu'a but lives in New Zealand, competed in the international tournament that featured 52 competitions in 11 events with over 3,500 competitors from around the world.

His wife Jacinta Sitapa told Matangi Tonga Online on August 25, in winning the gold medal Paula now holds the World Taekwondo Hanmadang Title for Fist Breaking - one of the most prestigious titles in the competition. He now sets his eyes to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics and has been training in Korea over the last two months in preparation.

Paula said his biggest dream to be fulfilled is to become the first Tongan male to compete in the Olympics in taekwondo and London 2012 Olympics is his target.

He recently competed at the World Qualification Tournament at Azerbaijan earlier in June but lost against the current world champion in his weight division.

Oceania

Paula trains in Korea with fellow Tongan athlete Pita Taufatofua with Master Jeong from Sejong Taekwondo in preparation for the upcoming Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament on September 11, in New Caledonia. He will represent Tonga in the 80kg division.

At the last Olympic Qualification tournament in 2007, he narrowly missed his chance to compete at the Beijing Olympics as he won the Silver medal but that was not enough to qualify, as it went to the Gold medal winner.

"I am very passionate about taekwondo and I have been doing it for more than 15-years as it has been my dream," he said.

Paula appealed for the support of the Tongan community and Government.