THE UST Tiger Jins took home seven gold, six silver and six bronze medals in the poomsae and kyorugi events of the 2024 National CPJ Taekwondo Championships held at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay from March 23 to 24.
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games medalists Maria Labayne and Darius Venerable struck gold in the individual female under-30 recognized poomsae and individual male over-17 freestyle poomsae, respectively.
UST’s duo of team captain Vincent Rodriguez and Aidaine Laxa topped the mixed pair under-30 recognized poomsae event.
In the team under-30 recognized poomsae, Tiger Jins King Alcairo, Dane Subaste and Paul Rodriguez ruled the men’s division. In women’s play, Laxa, alongside Stella Yape and Aliyah Baquial, clinched the gold.
In the kyorugi event, Tiger Jins John Callejo and Rama Liporada emerged as champions in the junior men’s under-59 kg and senior men’s under-63 kg weight categories, respectively.
Tiger Jins Justin Macario and Stella Yape settled for silver medals in the individual male and female over-17 freestyle poomsae categories.
Macario teamed up with Chelsea Tacay to finish with another silver medal in the mixed pair over-17 category.
In the team under-30 recognized poomsae, UST’s trio of Venerable, Eljay Vista and Bob Fabella, and Lady Jins Tacay, Labayne and Heza Serapio bagged silver.
Lady Jin Abigail Valdez snagged a silver medal in the senior women under-49kg division, while UAAP Season 86 Rookie of the Year Legolas Peñaredondo copped bronze in the senior men under-63 kg category.
Alcairo and Vista bagged bronze medals in the individual male under-30 recognized poomsae.
Tiger Jin Jeus Yape also won bronze in the individual male over-17 freestyle poomsae competition.
The Subaste-Baquial (under-30 recognized) and Rodriguez-Jade Carno (over-17 freestyle) mixed pairs racked up two more bronze medals to complete the medal haul for UST.
“Seeing all UST [taekwondo] teams perform well and give their best plus winning a medal makes me proud because all of our hard work paid off in our 1st national competition for this year,” UST assistant coach Rodolfo Reyes, Jr. told the Varsitarian. “This will be our standard and will help us set another goal for the team to know what we will need to work on and focus more on their strengths and weaknesses.”
The Tiger Jins will have two upcoming national competitions in June: Women’s Martial Arts Festival and the National Poomsae Championships.
