Unorthodox training for confident Go, Rivero

By Cedelf P. Tupas, Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Taekwondo-jins Tshomlee Go and Marie Antoinette Rivero Tuesday expressed their readiness to duke it out with the best in the world in the Beijing Olympics, declaring they are in the best shape of their lives.

Go, who snatched an Olympic berth after claiming a bronze in the World Championships in England last year, narrowly lost in the flyweight quarterfinals in the 2004 Athens Games to Spain’s Juan Antonio Ramos, while Rivero fell a win short of the silver after bowing to Greece’s Elisavet Mystakidou in a close and controversial decision in the semifinals.

Rivero, then the youngest athlete in the RP Olympic team at 16 years old, again lost in the repechage to Korean Hwang Kyung-sun.

But the Filipino jins believe they are “better-prepared” this time, after undergoing what Philippine Taekwondo Association chief Robert Aventajado described as an “unorthodox” three-month training in South Korea.

“Training in Korea was very difficult,” Rivero said at the PSA Forum Tuesday at the Shakey’s UN Avenue. We are more prepared.”

“We are in great shape,” Go said.

Aventajado said the training in Korea will improve the “strength, mental toughness, skills and stamina of Rivero and Go.”

“We are not pressuring them but we have prepared them to win,” the taekwondo chief said, noting that Rivero even joined the training of South Korean Navy Seals.

Blog Credits: Philippine Daily Inquirer