A TIGER jin took home a bronze medal in the highly competitive 19th Asian Taekwondo Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan held from May 21 to 23.
Twenty-year-old Marlon Avenido, a sophomore from the College of Fine Arts and Design, accounted for one of only two medals won by the 12-man Philippine contingent to the tournament. Teammate John Paul Lizardo scored a first runner-up finish in the finweight division.
Avenido has been a member of the national team since 2007 and was a gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Taekwondo Championship and a silver medalist in the Asian Games.
Besides him, fellow UST jins Camille Manalo and Nicole Mapilisan bannered the Philippines in theKazakhstan meet, which attracted competitors from more than 30 countries including Iran, Korea,Chinese Taipei, and Vietnam.
The tournament served as a tune-up for the UST jins’ upcoming stint in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China later this year.
Manalo, a 19-year-old student from the College of Education, will suit up for UST for the last time this coming school year. Mapilisan, also 19, is from the College of Rehabilitation Sciences who has been playing for UST for seven years now since high school. Frauleine Michelle S. Villanueva
