Sept. 21, 2014, 4:10 p.m. – THE UST Jins failed to defend their
championship and settled for third place as the University of the Philippines
reigned supreme in the UAAP Season 77 Poomsae tournament at the San Juan Arena
last Thursday, Sept. 18.
The Tiger Jins, who swept all
categories last year to win the maiden poomsae championship, only bagged one
gold on top of two silver and two bronze medals, allowing UP to snatch the top
spot. De La Salle University took second place.
UP and La Salle tied for first place,
both collecting two golds, one silver and one bronze medal. But the Fighting
Maroons won on aggregate, posting a score of 39.27 against the Green Archers’
39.14 to give them their first title.
UST’s lone medal came from Marvin Vidal
who dominated the men’s individual division with a score of 8.29 to beat UP’s
Dustin Mella (8.16) and La Salle’s Raphael Mella (8.12).
In women’s play, Poomsae world champion
Jocel Lyn Ninobla, who led the elimination round with a score of 8.24, fell
short in the final round and settled for bronze after scoring only 8.10 points.
Fellow world champions Rinna Babanto
(8.29) and Juvenile Crisostomo (8.12) won gold and silver, respectively.
The same happened to UST’s mixed pair
of Yuei Murillo and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr. as they impressed with a 7.78 score in
the elimination round, only to falter in the finals and register 7.69 which was
good only for third place.
In the group division, UST’s triads of
Airish Cenizal, Raisa Libiran and Jazmine Abenirin from the women’s group, and
Ronel Avenido, Adrian Ang and Joseph Calo of the men’s group, bagged silver
medals.
Despite losing their title, UST poomsae
head coach Rani Ortega lauded her team for playing well despite having a
rookie-laden squad.
“I’m really happy for everyone especially
doon sa mga first time mag-UAAP, they really performed well and their
performance today was better than what we do in training,” Otega told the Varsitarian.
In juniors’ sparring action, defending champion UST yielded their crown
in the boys’ division to the University of the East. Dominador Doctolero, Jr.
and Christopher Ortega starred for the Junior Tiger Jins after capturing two
gold medals while Adriam Cham won silver. Raevid de Leon and Ian Santos added
two bronze medals to secure the runner-up finish. Delfin Ray M. Dioquino
