KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia bagged a bronze medal at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Goyang, South Korea, on Friday.
The trio of Lim Jia Wei and the Abdul Karim sisters, Nurul Hidayah and Nur Humaira, reached the final round of the under-30 women's team after placing fifth with 107.90 points to finish in the top eight in the preliminary round.
In the final stage, Malaysia overcame Mexico to reach the semi-finals but lost to eventual champions South Korea, who beat Taiwan for the gold.
This is the third medal won by the Malaysian team in the history of the World Championships. Nurul Hidayah and Jia Wei had combined with Sara Yap to win the bronze in the same event in Wuxi, China in 2019.
Previously, Chew Wei Yan took bronze in the 2018 edition in Taipei in the men's individual category.
The performance of the trio augurs well for Malaysia ahead of the Hanoi Sea Games from May 12-23.
National coach Yap Yih Ting said: "This combination was only put together last year after we lost Sara who decided to retire, and they rose to the occasion.
"The team's finish is very good as we are the best performing team from Southeast Asia. The Thais, who won the gold at the 2019 Sea Games, could only finish fourth. Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia placed seventh, eighth and 16th respectively."
(From left) Nur Humaira Abdul Karim, Nurul Hidayah Abdul Karim and Lim Jia Wei celebrating with the
bronze medals in Goyang, South Korea on Friday.