RP jins open campaign in World taekwondo

MADRID–The RP-Petron taekwondo team begins its hunt for a first-ever gold medal in the World Taekwondo Championships which kicks off today at the state-of-the-art Palacio De Los Deportes here.

The Filipino roster, a mixture of youth and experience, will be anchored by Olympians Antoinette Rivero and Tshomlee Go in whose shoulders lie the gargantuan task of surpassing — if not duplicating — the country’s best finish in the meet achieved in 1995.

Hosting the tournament 10 years ago, the Philippines bagged two silver medals courtesy of the now retired Roberto Cruz.

"All the 120 member countries are well represented here. You have to win at least four matches to make it to the medal round. Mabigat ang kalaban, but the players are mentally and physically prepared for this meet," said national coach Jesus Morales III.

Notwithstanding the cold weather (temperature hit at 4 ‘C), Morales said the team is in high spirit, although he readily admitted that the luck of the draw will play a big factor in the team’s campaign in the four-day meet dubbed as the Olympics of taekwondo.

Lady Luck did smile on Rivero, the 17-year old sensation out of La Salle, as she will be pitted against a lightly Ukrainian opponent in today’s preliminaries in the women’s lightweight 63 kgs. under-class.

The Filipina’s tormentor in last year’s Athens Games already retired, but the coaching staff, which also included Stephen Fernandez, Manolo Gabriel and Victor Veneracion, are worried against the Brazilian and Taiwanese bets who are grouped with Rivero. Go and Vietnam Southeast Asian Games gold winner Dax Morfe are scheduled to see action Thursday, with Go pitted against an Iranian fighter who gave him a sound beating during the past two stagings of the World Cup.