Imagine a vibrant indoor arena with blinding fluorescent lights and the echoes of a cheering crowd invigorating every burning muscle.

That was the reality for freshman Laksha Iyer for a week in July in Barcelona, where she competed in the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) Taekwondo World Championship 2025.

But before Iyer could even process the moment, she was holding a massive gold trophy with her teammates.

Iyer and Team USA’s seven-person junior girls squad returned to the states with three medals, including a gold medal in power breaking, and silver medals in specialty breaking and team patterns.
“Standing on the podium, it was a really great moment because all of my hard work paid off,” Iyer said. “Standing there as a world champion was really good.”

Despite losing in the first round of the sparring event, Iyer didn’t let her feeling of disappointment weigh her down. Instead, she powered through and focused on her team as a whole, being a crucial reason for the team’s success.

According to ITF official regulations, in Iyer’s sparring event, she was scored on multiple factors such as her attack on the opponent. The scores depended heavily on how the attack was performed, if it was done correctly, and if it was dynamic and controlled.

Points are awarded when competitors strike their opponent in the head, sides of the body, and torso.

Although Iyer had a tough time in her individual events, the time she spent in Barcelona and competing in the tournament was a unique experience for her, not only because of the caliber of competition but also the difference between this tournament and others in which she has competed.

“The level of competition was really high because it was the best of the best,” Iyer said. “The brackets were really big, much bigger than I was used to.”

Even though the brackets of competitors was large, the total number of athletes in the competition was significantly smaller compared to other competitions she attended in the past because of the prestige of the competition.

But even earning the opportunity to compete at Barcelona proved to be a challenging process. Iyer first had to try out for Team USA. The application process was difficult because it wasn’t just basic training that would help her qualify.

For the qualifying round alone, Iyer had to undergo two rigorous Team USA training sessions, one in Reno and another in Houston.

“To be selected to go in an individual event, you [need] to place top three in that event to be selected to go,” Iyer said. “I placed in sparring, so I was selected to go for individual sparring.”

Iyer’s coaches, Amanda Cheney and Federico Vindigni, guided her and the team to success in the months leading up to the competition.

At first, Iyer’s coaches believed that she was very shy, so did not stand out amongst the crowd of athletes.

Then as she stepped out on the sparring mat and began competing, her coaches’ perception of her completely changed.

“She wasn’t afraid of anybody,” Cheney said. “That’s what I saw. She was a really good fighter.”

Vindigni said that she saw a clear change in Iyer’s mentality during her time training with the team, which was reflected when they went to Barcelona to compete from July 23-28.

Iyer and her teammates had only four months to practice before the world championship after the March qualifier.

“I went to taekwondo every day for like one to two hours,” Iyer said.

Iyer said she spent nearly 10-12 hours weekly while preparing for bimonthly tournaments on the side, a process she said was extremely brutal.

During these months of preparation, she got to know her new team, which formed an automatic connection.

“We all shared that same motivation,” Iyer said.

The team worked together for months, synchronizing their moves and mindsets for the competition. Together they flew to Barcelona and stepped forward into the arena where they would compete for the next week.

“I feel like the world championships and everything brought me and Laksha closer together, because we got to see each other fail,” said Amador Valley High junior Apoorvaa Muruganathan, who is

Iyer’s teammate. “But [we also go to] pick each other up, and motivate each other to do better.”

Through the hard work and dedication the team demonstrated in every event they participated in, they came home successful, with Iyer feeling confident she’d be returning to the ITF championships very soon.

“I’ve learned that dedication is very important, especially when trying to achieve a big goal because it motivates you,” Iyer said.