Cebuanos top taekwondo forms competition

FOLLOWING their successful performances in the regional competition of the Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) and the Philippine Olympic Festival, the Cebuano jins continue to make their presence felt this time by winning a medal in the Smart/Petron National Poomsae Championships last weekend at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Poomsae is the forms competition in taekwondo. It was introduced to the Cebuano team recently and the team of blackbelts came up with the superior scores to win the team freestyle synchronized poomsae contest, which is the centerpiece event of the competition.

Although they competed with a simpler set of costumes compared to their counterparts, the team stood out for their originality and excellent timing to oust nine other teams from Baguio City, University of the Philippines, Cavite and other clubs from other provinces.

In poomsae, 70 percent of the movements must be taekwondo-based, although it is allowed to add dance and gymnastics routines.

The team is headed by playing coach Glenn Lava, Jon Cabiles, Jhundel Gumpay, Marc Ruz and Iyan Anthony Lim.

These jins are reaping the fruits of their labor as they have prepared long and hard for the competition, training daily for the last six weeks, not to mention shelling out a considerable amount to acquire the services of two trainors, who are members of the RP team.

“We spent a considerable amount for bringing them over to conduct that training but it’s all worth it,” said PTA regional head Tony del Prado.

“This is by far our best showing in national poomsae competitions. The weeklong training of our blackbelts with the RP team members really helped the team,,” he added.

Apart from the team title, William Ylanan also came home with a bronze medal in the individual competition when he placed third in the individual standard poomsae blackbelt category.

A total of 900 participants from all over the country took part in the competition. Del Prado brought nine jins to the competition. This feat came at the heels of Cebu’s multiple gold medal victory in the Philippine Olympic Festival held last weekend in Dumaguete City. (MCB)

Blog Credits: Sun Star