Tiger Jins sweep tourney; Lady Jins, Poomsae team drop to third

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THE UST Tiger Jins swept the competition on their way to another championship while the Lady Jins and the UST poomsae team were dethroned in the conclusion of the UAAP Season 77 taekwondo and poomsae tournament at the Arena in San Juan.

The Tiger Jins escaped both the defending champion De La Salle University and the University of the Philippines with identical 4-3 final tallies to capture their 12th title with an immaculate 6-0 record.

“The men’s team was very consistent since day one. All throughout, they were able to win all the matches,” coach Jasmine Simpao said in an interview.

With the title already under their belt, UST fielded reserve players in its last game against UP but still managed to overpower the Fighting Maroons, 4-3.

In the women’s division, the Lady Jins failed to defend their crown after suffering a heartbreaking 3-4 loss to Far Eastern University to settle at third place.

The defeat put UST’s pulsating 4-3 triumph over UP to waste as the Lady Jins lost a crack at back-to-back championships.

Because of the loss, the Lady Maroons clinched the title with a 5-1 record, while UST tied La Salle for the second-best record as they finished with 4-2 cards apiece.

However, the Lady Jins had to settle for bronze as the Lady Archers registered a total of 27 victories compared with their 25 wins.

“We prepared very hard for this. It was just breaks of the game. Either you make it or not,” Simpao said. “The performance was okay. It’s just that in a competition, there is a winner and a loser.”

UST’s poomsae team also had to settle for third and denied of back-to-back titles.

The Tiger Jins, who swept the competition last season, ended up with only one gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

UP and La Salle tied for first place with two gold, one silver and one bronze medals but the Fighting Maroons claimed their first title on aggregate.

Veteran Marvin Vidal was the lone gold medalist for UST after posting a score of 8.29 over UP’s Dustin Mella and Raphael Mella, who registered 8.16 and 8.12, respectively.

The UST triads of Airish Cenizal, Raisa Libiran and Jazmine Abenirin of the women’s division and Ronel Avenido, Adrian Ang and Joseph Calo of the men’s group both got silver medals.

UST poomsae head coach Rani Ortega lauded her team for a stellar performance, despite being 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,” Ortega told the Varsitarian.

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