THE UST Junior Tiger Jins swept the UAAP Season 81 taekwondo tournament en route to their second-straight championship at the Blue Eagle Gym last Nov. 6.
The Junior Tiger Jins finished the tournament with a 5-0 win-loss record.
The University of the East and the Nazareth School of National University placed second and third, respectively.
“Well-rounded ang players namin and they can fight a long game, they can fight an inside game, mayroon pang punching game,” UST head coach Gershon Bautista told the Varsitarian.
UST’s Dominic Maquiling (finweight) and Marco Rubio (flyweight) bagged gold, with the former also winning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
Junior Tiger Jins Ethan Galvez (lightweight), Angelo David (heavyweight) and Israel Cantos (heavyweight) copped silver while Dave Labaton (featherweight) and Chiecko Cajulis (flyweight) struck bronze.
Their male and female senior counterparts, however, finished second, both losing to the National University (NU).
The Tiger Jins finished the tournament atop the standings alongside NU with a 5-1 slate but settled for silver due to the winner-over-the-other rule.
NU’s Joseph Chua pummeled UST’s Arjay Zapanta in the fourth match, 30-10, to take home their second men’s championship.
In women’s play, the Lady Jins lost to the Lady Bulldogs in their virtual championship match, 2-5, to bag their third consecutive title.
With UST leading the Lady Bulldogs, 2-1, NU won the next four games to seal the victory.
“We were ahead after the third match against NU pero ‘yong players nila after the third match, puro veterans at national team players na so that was a factor,” Lady Jins head coach Jasmin Simpao said.
Despite the silver finish, the tactician said both teams overachieved this season.
Last year, the Tiger Jins clinched bronze while the Lady Jins placed fourth.
“We fell short but this is a good stepping stone for us kasi unti-unti na kaming nakabalik sa podium but we’ll definitely work harder to get the championship next season,” she added.
In the individual category, Jamaica de Guzman (finweight), Zay Cajes (bantamweight) and Reign Charm Ragutana (welterweight) notched silver while Colleen Heria (flyweight), Laila Delo (middleweight), Gabrielle Limjoco (featherweight) and Allysa Asegurado (lightweight) notched bronze medals for the Lady Jins.
Juan Miguel Ramos (lightweight) captured gold while Salvador Marcos (finweight), Isaiah Lorbes (welterweight) and Aries Capispisan (middleweight) pocketed bronze for the Tiger Jins.
UST will miss the services of Tiger Jins Lorbes, Ramos, Capispisan and Joshua Ramirez with Lady Jins de Guzman, Ragutana, Cajes and Heria, who all exhausted their playing years.
For their Season 82 campaign, the Tiger Jins will get reinforcements from the juniors’ team as Season 80 boys’ taekwondo finals MVP Cantos is expected to move up the seniors’ team with silver medalists Galvez and David.
The Lady Jins will also get recruits from the 2019 Palarong Pambansa in Davao to bolster UST’s roster next season.
The Tiger and Lady Jins remained the winningest team in UAAP with 14 and 10 titles, respectively.
Dethroned
The Tiger Jins surrendered their UAAP poomsae crown to rival De La Salle University last Nov. 6.
La Salle reclaimed the crown they lost last year after securing three gold medals and one silver while UST had one gold and three silver medals. The University of the Philippines finished third with a 1-1-2 gold-silver-bronze medal tally.
“I was not expecting much from the team because wala na ‘yong mga veterans namin pero they all exceeded my expectations,” UST poomsae head coach Rani Ortega said.
The Tiger Jins lone gold medal came from the triumvirate of Adrian Meynard Ang, Jerel Anthony Dalida and Miguel Baladad in the team category of the men’s division after recording 8.26 points.
Ang then bagged silver in the individual male category with an 8.15-point performance but Jaeb Viterbo failed to reach the podium in the individual women’s division and slid to fifth.
The UST trio of Viterbo, Erin Salceda and Nasstassja Limos captured silver in the women’s team category with 8.13 points.
The tandem of Dalida and Cyrinne Abenir also salvaged second place in the mixed pair division behind 8.20 points.
UST remained the winningest team in the UAAP with five championships since the tournament began in 2011.
