Taekwondo bets in light mood at final training

BEIJING – Filipino taekwondo jins Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero went into closed door training yesterday morning, heard Sunday Mass hours later, and had another light training at the Athletes Village in the afternoon as they went through the final days of their preparations for the Olympic taekwondo competitions here.

“It’s a very exclusive training we’re doing right now. The training is not intensive. What is important now is just to stay put, take the pressure off their mind, and relax,” said Filipino coach Rocky Samson.

“This the actual arena, it meets international standards, and they will be fighting in a similar mat when they get into the competition,” said Samson, pointing to the 10m x 10m mat in the training hall at the Capital Institute of Physical Education in downtown Beijing.

Media and obsevers were not allowed to interview or take shots of the athletes in training but could do so after their one-hour workout which ended 9 a.m.

While the group from Chinese Taipei did their taichi exercises to clear their mind and relax their bodies, Go, Rivero and their coach left to join the rest of the Team Philippines in a Sunday Mass.

“We pray together. We go to the chapel today and we are going to offer up this day, of course, to God,” said Samson.

Samson said Korean head coach Kim Hong Sik is closely monitoring their movements everyday, paying special attention to Go, who was dangerously on the boundary line of his weight category yesterday.

After the workout, Go weighed exactly 58 kilos, the weight limit in the flyweight division. Rivero was well within the weight limit of 67 kilos for the welterweight (-67 kg) class.

“Go’s weight is no problem. His weight will go down when he exercises,” said Samson. “Coach Kim is monitoring his diet, including everything he eats and what he and Toni have to do for the day.”