THE UST Tiger Jins brought home nine gold, 10 silver and six bronze medals in the 2023 SMART/MVP Sports Foundation National Inter-School Taekwondo Championships held at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center and Ninoy Aquino Stadium from Sept. 30 to Oct.1.
The Tiger Jins finished second over all in the recognized poomsae event, tallying a 2-5-1 gold-silver-bronze medal haul in the individual and team categories.
“I’m happy about their performance in the inter-school tournament even though we fell short in other categories,” Rodolfo Reyes, Jr., who is UST’s poomsae head coach, told the Varsitarian. “Since the UAAP is coming, the results of the inter-school tournament would help and motivate them to show and perform their best.”
UST’s squad of Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist Kobe Macario, team captain Vincent Rodriguez, and Paul Rodriguez clinched the gold medal in the team senior male category, while Lady Jin Stella Yape ruled the individual senior female event.
In the individual event, Nicole Labayne, a SEA Games gold medalist, and Nash Alcario settled for silver medals in the senior female and male categories, respectively.
Alcario teamed up with Jeus Yape and Dane Subaste, while Labayne banded with Chelsea Tacay and Heza Serapio for silver finishes in the team event. The junior team of Eljay Vista, Bob Rico and Jethro Jimenez also notched a silver medal.
Vincent Rodriguez copped his second medal and UST’s lone bronze in the individual senior male division.
National University bagged the overall crown, while the National Academy of Sports finished third.
Reyes said that this tournament would help as a basis for the coaching staff in determining UST’s roster in the upcoming UAAP Season 86.
“Their national competitions for this year also serve as their test or assessment for us coaches to determine who’s going to play for this season,” Reyes said. “[And] Coach Rani (Ortega) and I trust the players we chose to play for this season.”
In the kyorugi event, the Tiger Jins also finished second overall, racking up five gold, four silver and two bronze medals in the men’s, women’s and junior’s divisions.
UST Lady Jins team captain Abigail Valdez, Laizel Abucay and Rryshel Ramirez clinched gold in the women’s bantamweight, light-welterweight and flyweight divisions, respectively.
In men’s play, Tiger Jins Aron-Jay Baynagan and Aljen Aynaga captured gold in the featherweight and bantamweight categories.
Lady Jins Geraline Pit (women’s finweight), Catryn Balin (women’s light-welterweight), Angel Lorbes (women’s featherweight), and Tiger Jin Reyvin Villanueva (men’s featherweight) each snagged silver in their respective games.
John Pasion and Ryane de Juan placed third in the men’s lightweight and women’s flyweight events, respectively.
The Tiger Jins’ junior counterparts added two gold, one silver and three bronze medals to UST’s overall medal tally in the kyorugi and poomsae tournaments.Ro
Far Eastern University was hailed the overall champion in the kyorugi tournament, while the University of the Philippines ended in third place.
