VIETNAM issued a warning to its rivals in the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games by dominating the kyorugi (sparring) events of the 16th Asean Taekwondo Federation Championships over the weekend at the Ayala by the Bay mall in Paranaque.
Fielding a contingent of close to 100 athletes in the three-day meet organized by the Philippine Taekwondo Association, the Vietnamese captured 10 golds — four and six in the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively — to underline their bid to reign supreme anew in the coming regional games.
Vietnamese jins bagged six of the eight mints up for grabs in the women’s class, with Clarence Sarza being the only hometown bet emerging champion after beating national teammate Rryshel Ramirez 2-0 in the gold-medal match in the senior finweight division.
The other Filipino gold medalists were bantamweight Kurt Pajuelas and heavyweight Matthew Teruel, who beat Legolas Penaredondo and Mark Arby Gabriela, respectively, in a pair of all-Filipino matches in the men’s senior division.
Competing on home turf in the 31st edition of the regional meet last year, Vietnam took overall honors in taekwondo with a haul of eight gold, five silver and eight bronze medals out of 10 countries, with Thailand (5-4-3) and the Philippines (2-5-3) taking second and third, respectively.
The Thais, who are training in Europe, did not see action in the ATF competition while the Filipinos garnered a total of three gold, 10 silver and 11 silver medals in the eight-nation tournament that served as a preview for the Cambodia SEA Games two months away.
“We thank the PTA for hosting the tournament and glad that our athletes were able to size up the competition for the Cambodia SEA Games,” newly-reelected ATF president Monsour del Rosario, a former national standout and former back-to-back SEA Games gold medalist, said.
National head coach Caloy Padilla said the competition was a good way to scout their potential rivals in Cambodia, especially the jins from Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.
“While they did not field their entire lineups, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia sent their Team A players so this competition was a good way to gauge who are foes will be in the SEA Games. Vietnam even sent two athletes per weight division,” Padilla pointed out.
He singled out Vietnamese Thi Kim Tuyen Trong, who won a gold in the women’s flyweigh division but ruled the lighter finweight in the Vietnam Games.
Padilla said that except for Nicole McCann, who won a silver in the women’s featherweight division, they had kept the athletes they would send to Cambodia in reserve in both men’s and women’s divisions.
He said they intend to exceed the two golds the country won in Vietnam last year courtesy of poomsae specialist Jocel Lyn Ninobla and Tokyo Olympian Kurt Ryan Barbosa, who topped the men’s finweight division.
To prep them well for the Cambodia Games, the national team will have high-altitude training in Baguio from April 9 to 26, according to Padilla.
