ONE TEAM brought back the crown while the other was denied of a repeat.
The UST Tiger Jins lorded it over in the UAAP senior men’s taekwondo tournament via 5-0 sweep, but defending champions Lady Jins crashed to fourth place with a lowly 3-2 win-loss record at the Arena in San Juan last Sept. 17.
The UST Junior Jins swept the competition, 4-0, en route to their third straight title.
“The kids were really strong and the stat sheets clearly showed our advantage during the matches,” overall coach Dindo Simpao said.
In their championship bout, the Tiger Jins bested De La Salle University, 5-2.
After two lacklustre performances by his teammates, national team mainstay Paul Romero won in the bantamweight category, unleashing a powerful kick that connected on Josafat Licayan.
Another RP standout, Christian Al dela Cruz, thrashed Xavier Stepanek of La Salle, 11-0, highlighted by his roundhouse kick on Stepanek’s head. Thomasian Dane Pio de Roda fired a swift axe kick on the head of counterpart John Velecina and won, 3-0.
Veterans John Mendoza and Season 72 Athlete of the Year Marlon Avenido also demolished La Salle’s Gerry del Rosario and Jaime Pablo winning 4-2 and 6-2, respectively.
Despite being passive early in the second round, Mendoza unloaded a devastating head kick to stretch the gap at 4-1. Avenido’s barrage of kicks tamed an offensive-minded Del Rosario.
The Tiger Jins also harvested individual awards in the tournament where they were crowned overall champions.
Pio De Roda pocketed the Most Valuable Player award and a gold medal for the featherweight category while Romero, De La Cruz, Mendoza and Avenido also took home the gold medals in bantamweight, lightweight, welterweight, and middle/ heavy divisions, respectively.
Queens no more
Despite prevailing over eventual champions Far Eastern University (FEU), 5-2, in the elimination round, Season 73 champions Lady Jins were good only for fourth place. The University of the Philippines (3-4) finished second while La Salle (3-4) was third.
Nonetheless, the Lady Jins had lopsided victories against Ateneo De Manila University, 7-0, and University of the East, 6-1.
Korina Paladin got things rolling for the Lady Jins after a nail-biting victory courtesy of referee’s decision against FEU’s Winlove de la Cerna. Picking up from where Paladin left off, Yuie Murillo defeated Cecilia Viray, 4-1. Monica Reyeg carried the momentum for UST and finished off Crizobel Vargas, 6-3.
Marynel Niango completed the four-match winning streak for the Lady Jins. She hit Virhana Glindo with three consecutive sidekicks in the final seconds to pull off a 9-7 come-from-behind win.
UST, however, lost the fifth and sixth matches to FEU after the latter stuck two 2-3 finishes against the Thomasians.
Jane Narra allowed UST to exit on a winning note after scoring a 1-0 win against Marifi Gadit. UST missed national team player Jade Zafra, who is set to undergo surgery to fix damaged bones below her left eye.
“Her presence in the mat was really a huge blow to the team,” women’s head coach Jasmin Simpao said.
Jane Narra of the middle/ heavy division was the lone gold medallist for UST. Jan Edward B. Ballesteros and Rodolfo Serafin Jerome T. Lozada
