FOUR UST Poomsae Jins were hailed as among the top players in their respective divisions in the March 2022 rankings of international federation World Taekwondo.
Tiger Jins Justin Kobe Macario, Darius Venerable, Rodolfo Reyes Jr. and Jocelyn Ninobla landed spots in the male over-17 freestyle, male under-30 and female under-30 poomsae category.
Macario and Venerable placed third and fifth, respectively.
Korea’s Namhoon Lee earned the first place while Andreas Bregnballe Sørensen of Denmark took second.
“I’m surprised that I was included in the world ranking for the male over-17 freestyle category because we didn’t know that there was already a ranking for freestyle players,” Macario told the Varsitarian.
“We have to focus on our goals because we still have a lot to improve on ourselves and in our team. We would like to give our best for the country,” he added.
In the male under-30 category, UST alumnus and 2019 Southeast Asian Games medalist Rodolfo Reyes Jr. dropped from third to fourth place in the January 2022 rankings.
Former Lady Jin Jocel Lyn Ninobla remained at third spot in the female under-30 event. Janna Dominique Oliva of the University of the Philippines placed fourth in the same category.
The UST Jins are set to compete in the Online National New Face Taekwondo Poomsae Championships on March 19.
