Barbosa rocks crowd, produces one final gold for Philippine taekwondo in SEA Games

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine jins added six more medals in the country’s medal haul at the conclusion of the 30th Southeast Asian Games taekwondo event on Monday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The jins captured a gold, silver, and four bronzes in the final day with Kurt Barbosa shining brightest as he demolished his Indonesian counterpart Reinaldy Atmanegra, 26-10, in the men’s under 49kg finale.

“Sobrang pinaghandaan ko po talaga kasi yung mga kalaban ko nakalaban ko na before,” said Barbosa, pulling off a golden effort in his first SEA Games stint. “Mas pinaghandaan ko sila kasi alam kong naghahanda sila, so the more na naghahanda sila, the more na handa ako.”

Leading at 12-3, the 20-year-old was seen flashing a big grin and encouraged the crowd for louder cheers in the middle of the match. 

“Ginigising ko po yung crowd, lagi akong ganun pag naglalaro local man or international. Nagkataon lang na Philippines yung nag host so mas hyped ako,” he said.

However, Rheza Aragon failed to add another gold after falling to Thailand’s Panipak Wongpattanakit, 2-35, in the women’s under 49kg weight class finale.

Meanwhile, Veronica Garces, Baby Jessica Canabal, Dex Ian Chaves and Kurt Pajuelas all settled for bronzes.