Geisler, Rivero take center stage today

ATHENS (Via Globe Telecom) — Aware of the enormous task of winning an Olympic medal, two more Filipino taekwondo jins resume the nation’s quest Saturday at the Faliro venue.

Donald Geisler III, a veteran of the Sydney Games and first-timer Maria Antoinette Rivero, at 16 one of the youngest in the tournament, begin their campaign after Tshomlee Go had completed his Thursday.

"We’ve done everything humanly possible to prepare them, we’re aware of the pressure of winning a medal but that’s not we’re thinking at the moment. Naka focus kami sa laro (we’re focused on our game)," said Robert Aventajado, a former government official and the president of the Philippine Taekwondo Association.

The four-weight classes in the men’s and women’s side have been teeming with talent that one way or the other the Filipino jins would run into world-class opponents right in the first round.

But the 25-year-old Geisler’s division is so star-studded that the Filipino jin seems to have gained some break despite clashing with Turk world champ Bhari Tanrikulu right in his opening match.

"If I get past Bahri, gagaan na ang laban (the fight would be a bit easier)," said Geisler.

But for sure, Tanrikulu shares the same sentiment since the 22-year-old Istanbul native, once voted taekwondo’s "most outstanding performer" and Geisler appear to have a better side than in the lower bracket loaded with four world and Olympic champs.

In fact, Cuba’s Angel Matos, the Olympic welterweight titlist, and Mexico’s Victor Manuel Garibay, bronze medalist in Sydney, face off in the round with the winner clashing with two-time world champion Steven Lopez of the United States, who is expected to win his first match.

Another former world champ Iran’s Yossef Karami would be waiting in the semifinals since he would likely sweep his first two assignments.

An easier route to the semifinals awaits the Filipino-German mestizo if he pulls off a stirring reversal over Tanrikulu, world middleweight titlist in 2001 in Cheju, Korea. He would then move up against who ever prevails in the bout between Tunisia’s Hichem Hamdouoni and Nigeria’s Jacob Martis Obiarah, undoubtedly lesser credentialed entries in the division.

The only other man capable of waging a serious bid, record-wise, will be Azerbaijan’s Rashad Ahmadov, third placer in the lightweight class in the 2003 world event.

"In effect he has a good draw compared with those in the lower bracket and I think he can bet Tanrikulu," said national coach Jesus Morales III.

The 5-foot-8 Rivero would also have a better passage into the quarterfinal in the minus 67 kg if she were to hurdle Argentina’s Vannina Beron Sanchez, silver medallist in the 1979 world tourney in Manila and quarterfinalist last year in Garmish Partenkirchen, Germany.

"I haven’t met her nor seen her in action so focus lang sa laro," said Rivero as she waited for her turn in the weigh-in at a Faliro function room.

Next in line for Rivero if she beats the Argentine is the winner of the contest between the Netherlands’ Charmie Sobers and Great Britain’s Sarah Bainbridge.

A featured match in the first round will be Chinese world champion Lou Wei and the brilliant Korean lass Hwang Kyung Sun in an encounter that could really be explosive.

"That’s how tough the draw is. You will somehow meet a world or Olympic champion because they bring in the very best, the best 16 taekwondo athletes in the world," said Morales.