It takes courage to continue the fight despite the struggle.
Reigning women’s individual foil champion and former Most Valuable Player Justine Gail “Stang” Tinio showed all that and successfully retained the gold against a familiar rival in De La Salle University’s Divine Romero, 15-11, Wednesday afternoon at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym.
Before the former Lady Red Pages met on the podium, Tinio and Romero took different routes to reach it. For her part, Tinio finished second in her pool; meanwhile, Romero landed in third on her group for the seeding round. Nevertheless, neither of them finished in the top two overall going into the direct elimination phase.
But the 2015 Southeast Asian Games silver medallist, Tinio, shook off Dyren Peñaflor of University of Santo Tomas and Kim Sanchez of Far Eastern University in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, to claim the chance to defend her throne. The fourth-year veteran emerged victorious at 15-8 over Peñaflor, before facing Sanchez in the Final Four. It was not easy, however, as Tinio hyperventilated just as she was about to finish the match at 12-8. “Nahihirapan po akong huminga,” she shared. The bout was stopped for almost three minutes until the junior foilist decided to continue. “Ayaw ko po talagang sumuko. Andun na ako, itutuloy ko para sa coaches ko at para sa school,” she recalled. From there, Tinio ended her agony with a counter to end the bout at 15-10.
On her part, the “rookie who went another way,” Romero, went through the ringer to reclaim her position as one of women’s foil’s elite. The La Salle rookie and former UAAP girls MVP pulled off a thrilling win against Ateneo’s Andee Ignacio, 5-4, in the Last Eight. Romero then followed it up with a stunning victory over the other UE foilist Keren Pangilinan in the semifinals, 15-6, to arrange a title showdown with her former teammate.
Before the Finals, Tinio thought, “Hindi ko basta ibibigay. Hindi porket teammate ko siya dati, bibigay ko na lang.” That motivation pushed the national team mainstay to cruise through the early stages of the bout despite the nagging breathing difficulty. Romero, however, would also feel the same way and cut the deficit to two, 9-11. Tinio then used all her strength and veteran smarts to finish the bout and keep the tiara on her head.
The now-multiple women’s individual foil champion said that she always think of UE’s ongoing 8-year championship run. “May [8-]peat kaming inaalagaan. Yung mga nauna sa min, pinaghirapan yun. Ayaw ko namang basta lang maputol sa min,” she said. That is why everything she does is “para sa teammates ko, para sa coaches ko … para masuklian yung efforts nila.”
