Rivero bags gold in ladies featherweight in taekwondo

Marie Antoinette Rivero, a 16-year-old high school junior from St. Paul’s Pasig, stole the thunder from the veterans Tuesday by winning the senior women’s featherweight gold medal in the Samsung Best of the Best taekwondo championships at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City.

The 5-foot-7 Rivero, who counts among her victims in previous tournaments fellow national jins Veronica Domingo and Kalindi Tamayo, proved too much for Cebu City’s Susan Rio Abayan to win by a lopsided 7-0 count.

Another new face, Ma. Criselda Roxas of Las Piñas, took the senior women’s welter gold by shocking veteran Josephine Strachan, 7-3, in one of the final matches of the tourney organized by the Philippine Taekwondo Association, sponsored by Samsung, managed by IMG and supported by Philippine Star, Accel, Colours, Kix, Ayala Center and 103.5 K Lite.

All other members of the national pool, except senior men’s fly Tshomlee Go who had to default his first round bout due to conflict with his studies, prevailed in their respective classweights.

Daleen Cordero, Jasmin Strachan, Veronica Domingo and Sally Solis bagged the senior women’s fly, bantam, light and middle golds, respectively, while flyweight Michael Velo of Baguio City, bantam Manuel Rivero Jr., feather Jefferthom Go, lightweight Donald Geisler, welter Alexander Briones and middleweight Dax Morfe carted away the senior men’s golds.

Briones, a member of the Philippine team to the last Busan Asian Games, produced one of the day’s most remarkable victories by knocking out Ryannel Gellangarin in 45 seconds of the first round with a jumping turning side kick to the face.

In the other men’s finals, Velo outclassed Laguna’s Reymar Aringo, 6-2; Rivero beat UST’s Gerald Gregorio, 7-4; Go nipped fellow Thomasian Ernesto Juan Mendoza, 4-3; Sydney Olympian Geisler crushed La Union’s Dennis Sambo, 12-0; and Morfe won by superiority over fellow national jin Dindo Simpao after they had ended their fight tied at 4-4.

In the women’s matches, Cordero narrowly beat fellow national bet Lorraine Catalan of UP, 3-2; Sydney Olympian Jasmin Strachan blasted Sabrina Simbulan, 5-0; Domingo clobbered UP’s Ria Cruz, 7-3; and Solis outfought fellow Asian Games Margarita Bonifacio, 10-7.

Junior men’s and women’s matches were being contested at presstime yesterday.