The Philippine national poomsae team showed up with a rousing medal haul at the 6th World Taekwondo Asia Poomsae Championships, bagging two golds, two silvers, and five bronzes at the Nouhad Naufal Indoor Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon on Monday.
The Nationals have medaled in all the events they participated in.
They were paced by the freestyle squad’s two titles off strong performances by tournament MVPs Darius Venerable and Juvenile Crisostomo.
University of Santo Tomas student-athlete Venerable duplicated his win of the online competitions last year. He topped the male individual event with a spectacular score 7.74 this time around. He bested the three other competitors from South Korea, Iran, and host Lebanon.
Doubling the golden haul to end the day was the quintet of Crisostomo; 2019 Southeast Asian Games male individual champion Jeordan Dominguez; and Nikki Oliva, Marvin Mori, and Kobe Macario/ They got the better of the two-way battle between Pakistan in the over-17 team event with 7.77.
The MVPs Venerable and Crisostomo, along with Oliva, went home with their second medals. They ended up with the silvers in mixed pair and female individual, respectively.
The recognized poomsae squad, meanwhile, plucked a silver from June Ninobla. He finished in second place in the male individual under-60 event.
Rodolfo Reyes Jr. and Jocel Lyn Ninobla took two bronzes after their third-place finishes in both the individual and team events of the under-30 events.
Reyes joined Patrick Perez and Joaquin Tuzon on the men’s side. On the other hand, Rinna Babanto and Aidaine Laxa completed the women’s team.
Perez, the UAAP Season 81 Rookie of the Year, also teamed up with former teammate and that season’s MVP Babanto for their second bronze of the day in the mixed pair under-30 event.
The kyorugi competitions begin on Wednesday.
