Black and gold: Vision-impaired Hawke's Bay 13-year-old's taekwondo turning point

Khan Taylor with the rest of the TNT team and their medal haul at the Koryo dojang in Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor

Khan Taylor was stunned when he learned the colour of the medal being presented to him at the NZ National World Taekwondo Championships was gold.

The 13-year-old yellow belt has Wolfram syndrome, which involves the gradual loss of vision and causes deafness and diabetes.

Khan said he is colour blind and is able to see a maximum distance of four metres ahead.

He took up World Taekwondo Federation taekwondo at the the Hastings-based Koryo Dojang about a year ago to boost his self confidence and self-defence skills for school.

"When I walk home I am a bit more comfortable."

He said the NZ National World Taekwondo Championships he entered with the Koryo Dojang "TNT Team" earlier in the month, on the weekend of August 6 and 7, was his first taekwondo competition.

He won the poomsae, or pattern, category for his Para division.

"When I was there, I wasn't exactly expecting the medal, then I got called up for a medal, and because I am colour blind, I couldn't tell what colour it was," he said.

"I asked the lady 'what colour is this?', and she was like 'gold', and I was like 'what?'"

He said he was definitely interested in doing more events, and his goal was to get a black belt.

Koryo Dojang Master Camille Pruckmuller said she had picked up Khan as a student, ran with his strengths and entered him in a Para division.

She said at the recent tournament Khan was the only competitor for his Para category, something they didn't know until arriving, but his performance impressed the judges.

"He didn't make any mistakes, he was absolutely great."

She said she has other para-athlete students, but Khan is the first in his specific category that she has taught.

She said other students from Koryo Dojang that had success at the national tournament included 8-year-old Eva Wepa-Hazel, who won three Golds in Fighting, Poomsae and Pairs, and cadet Jake Champion, a competitor in the 12 to 14-year-old category, who won his division for Poomsae and Pairs and a trophy as cadet of the day.

Overall the team won 21 medals at the event, 16 of them gold.