AFTER a heartbreaking third-place finish last year, the UST Tiger Jins dethroned the University of the Philippines (UP) to reclaim the crown in the UAAP Season 78 poomsae championships at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym last Oct.21.
The Tiger Jins clinched their second title as poomsae marked its third year as an official UAAP sport.
UST snatched three gold medals and a silver to top University of the Philippines and De La Salle University which claimed second and third place, respectively.
The Tiger Jins, which swept the tournament en route to the championship in the event’s maiden year in 2013, surprisingly dropped to third place last season behind La Salle and eventual champions UP.
Lady Jins captain Jocel Lyn Ninobla said last year’s setback served as a wake-up call for the team to work harder this season.
“We’ve learned na hindi pa sapat ‘yung ginawa namin. We have to double it or maybe more pa. There really is no time for contentment or relaxation,” Ninobla said.
The mixed pair of national team mainstays Ninobla and Marvin Gabriel impressed with 8.37 points to land first place.
In the group category, UST also collected gold medals courtesy of the trio of Gabriel, Adrian Ang and Palarong Pambansa standout Anthony Dalida of the men’s group, and Ninobla, Raisa Libiran and Jhoanna Razon.
Rodolfo Reyes Jr. bagged UST’s lone silver medal in the men’s individual division with a score of 8.28 behind UP’s Dustin Mella (8.44).
“I’m very much happy with the performance. I can see that they really gave their all. We trained hard for this, we prepared hard and all of it was worth it,” Tiger Jins head coach Rani Ortega said.
