Poomsae artists strike gold in Asian taekwondo

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino poomsae artists scooped up one gold, two silver and one bronze medals as the Philippines finished fourth overall in the second Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships at Phu Tho Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam recently.

Jean Pierre Sabido, Galilee Tinaya and Marvin Gabriel impressed the judges with their fine form to beat rivals from host Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and Iran for the title in the men’s team Under-29, a division that Phl coach Igor Mella described as “the most difficult category” in the meet.

Phl’s beauteous former world champions Rani Ortega, Janice Lagman and Camille Alarilla, however, fell short in the distaff side and settled for the second place behind Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Thu Ngan, Chau Tuyet Van and Nguyen Thi Xuan Linh.

Also coming home with a silver were the trio of Edrick Galing, Ernesto Guzman and Glenn Lava who took runner up honors in the men’s team Over-29 to Iran’s triumphant entries.

Guzman made it to the podium one more time as he pocketed a bronze in the men’s individual Under-39 competition which was dominated by Korean Sung-Hey Kim.

Displaying their superiority in a martial art they gave birth to, the Koreans swept all six individual events to emerge the top nation in the poomsae side of the Asian tilt, according to the World Taekwondo Media.

Host Vietnam (two golds, five silvers and three bronzes) finished second overall, followed by iran (2-3-6), the Philippines (1-2-1) then Thailand (1-1-1).