MANILA, Philippines — A consistent medal producer in the international stage, the Philippine Taekwondo Association hopes to keep the “tradition” when the SEA Games taekwondo competitions are held Dec. 7-9 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
“We are confident of our chances for the targeted gold medals based on the team’s overall preparation,” PTA’s Raul Samson told The STAR. “The medals can come from any of the players and events in both kyorugi and poomsae.”
The Philippines is eyeing not only to double its two-gold, three-silver, four-bronze haul in the last SEAG in Kuala Lumpur but match or surpass its 6-5-1 (gold-silver-bronze) feat in helping power the country to the overall championship when it last hosted the biennial meet in 2005.
But after a 1-4-6 take in the next SEAG in Thailand in 2007, taekwondo recovered in the next four editions, delivering 4-4-4 in Laos, 4-3-5 in Indonesia and 4-4-6 in Myanmar before settling for a 3-3-2 haul in Singapore.
But with more events this time, the PTA expects to better its performance ton a team built around Pauline Lopez, Elaine Alora, Butch Morrison and the men’s and women’s poomsae crews.
“All are well motivated and excited and as always, the team members know in their heart that they are fighting for country,” said Samson, pointing to the jins from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia as the likely bets to crowd his wards for the gold.
According to Samson, the team has been in constant preparation the whole year, competing in several international competitions from the first quarter until this month “where our SEAG players have won medals in their respective events.”
“Our team has always been a performer in the SEAG and we are committed to this,” said Samson. “Our players are ready to slug it out and perform at their best especially now that we are hosting the games.”
Lopez, for one, is a consistent SEAG medalist and bagged the bronze in last year’s Asian Games in Jakarta while Alora is a silver medal winner in the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament that netted her a berth in the 2016 Olympic Games.
Morrison, on the other hand, has dominated the men’s 74-kg class of the SEAG for four years while the poomsae squads are former Asian Games bronze medal winners.