THE UST Tiger Jins scored back-to-back championships while the Lady Jins improved to second place in their respective divisions in the UAAP Season 78 taekwondo tournament at the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagle Gym last Oct. 23.
The Tiger Jins trounced a gritty University of the East squad, 5-2, to top the tourney for the second straight year, while the Lady Jins, who slid to third place last year, failed to regain the championship they last won in Season 76.
Both UST squads shared an identical 5-1 win-loss card with UE but the Lady Warriors came out victorious via quotient rule by prevailing against the Lady Jins in their previous encounter, 4-3.
With the Tiger Jins leading 3-2, Aries Capispisan sealed the crown for UST after landing a swift kick to the torso with 25 seconds remaining against Red Warrior Raymond Caño in their sudden death match.
“(Against UE), we relied on front leg kicks and matched particularly with our defense. We addressed their jitters in close battles with nerves of steel,” Tiger Jins head coach Dindo Simpao told the Varsitarian.
Newly-crowned Most Valuable Player Joaquin Mendoza relied on a tremendous second round and scored all of his points to overtake Jenar Torillos, 6-3.
Mendoza (bantamweight), Ramos (featherweight), and Carlos Miguel (finweight) took home individual gold medals while Capispisan netted silver.
In women’s play, Season 76 MVP Abigail Cham suffered a heartbreaking loss against Lady Warrior Nicole McCann in sudden death to drop the series, 1-4. UST went on to win the next two non-bearing games.
Lady Jins Marjelle Sy (welterweight) and Cham (lightweight) won individual gold medals while team captain Korina Paladin (flyweight), Colleen Heria(bantamweight) and Charm Ragutana (heavyweight) bagged silver. Jamaica de Guzman (finweight) won bronze.
UST ended the tournament with a 6-5-1 gold-silver-bronze medal haul.
“’Di man namin nakuha ang championship this year, ang performance namin, pang-champions,” Sy said.
