Yape: Flag-bearer in closing rites

NAGOYA – Flag-bearer honor for golden jin.

Taekwondo ace Jeus Gabriel Derick Yape, the man who delivered a long-awaited Asian Games breakthrough for Philippine taekwondo, will have the honor of carrying the national colors in today’s closing ceremony of the 20th Asian Games here.

The virtual taekwondo king was tapped to be Team Philippines’ standard-bearer in the parade of athletes at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium, where the curtain falls at 5 p.m., two weeks after the Games opened at the same venue.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said Yape is more than deserving of the distinction.

“He’s deserving for that honor. It will be a recognition not only for Jeus but also for taekwondo, which finally won its first Asian Games gold medal since 1994, when the sport became a medal event in the games,” said Tolentino.

Yape made history last Friday when he ruled the mixed virtual taekwondo – an open-gender event that combines martial arts with virtual reality and motion-tracking technology – to end the country’s 31-year gold-medal search in the sport.

The 23-year-old standout also bagged bronze in the men’s individual poomsae to anchor the Phl jins’ best-ever haul of one gold, three silvers and one bronze in Aichi-Nagoya.

Joining Yape in the closing march are fellow taekwondo silver winners Juliana Mykhail Candelaria, Tachiana Keizha Mangin and Kurt Barbosa, and boxing silver medalist Carlo Paalam.

Paris Olympics bronze medalist Aira Villegas and weightlifting world junior champion Albert Ian delos Santos carried the flag for Team Philippines in the Sept. 19 opener.