Taekwondo: Jins set eyes on the prize

After a failed title defense last season, the DLSU Green Jins are aiming to regain the title from the UST Jins this season.

The Season 73 UAAP champions has been reinforced with four promising recruits, three of which hail from the La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) program that dominated the NCAA Juniors Division in the past four years.

Among the LSGH standouts are Paolo Jazmines (finweight), Kirk Barbosa (alternate finweight) and Karl Delos Santos (alternate welter-middleweight).

The Green Jins also secured the services of Baguio City National High School product Keith Benjamin Sembrano who participated in the 2012 World Junior Taekwondo Championships earlier this year.

Green Jin R-Jay Del Rosario, a Finweight gold medalist, pointed out that the lineup is quite similar to the lineup last year, but the seniors would have to go up by a division to accommodate the rookies in the lower weight divisions.

He also mentioned that both the Green and Lady Jins will double their efforts in preparing for the upcoming taekwondo action.

From their usual thrice-a-week training, the teams have started training daily this month, and are set to train on a daily twice-a-day basis on August.

They also joined the Poomsae and Kyorugi category of the 34th National Taekwondo Championships last July 29-30. The tournament served as the teams’ tune-up tournament before UAAP proper.

Returning for the Green Jins are gold medalist Del Rosario and Kevin Sia (flyweight) backed by Gerry Del Rosario and J Licayan who nailed silver in the welter and bantamweight last season respectively.

Xavier Stepanek will now hold the fort this year in the welterweight category.

Ladies gear up

The Lady Jins, at the same time, are looking forward to avenge the team’s heartbreaking Season 74 placing.

The team was level at 4-3 standings with eventual champions FEU, but unfortunately, the Lady Tamaraws got the better of the Lady Jins, sending the title to Morayta instead.

With all teams vying for the title, improvement is adamant for all the squads; the De La Salle taekwondo teams are looking to build their training and conditioning.

Even with UP, UST and FEU marked as tough competition for both squads, the teams are optimistic that they could bring the prize back to Taft.

“We now have a full lineup now of nine in the women’s. So, we are better this year than last year. [The] Men’s [team is also] much better also this year,” Head Coach Stephen Fernandez shared.

Last season’s gold medalists Jyra Lizardo (lightweight), Alyssa (flyweight) and Ynah Bonifacio (featherweight) will spearhead another championship run this season.

Bantamweight silver medalist Leigh Nuguid, bronze medalist Apriel Solimen (welterweight) with veteran poomsea artist Patricia Sembrano, will be backed by Patricia Gonzalez, Ynah Langit and Analyn Dela Pena in the higher weight division.

“We want to win both the Men and Women’s title this year. Of course, it will take the effort of everyone in the team and we will take it one game at one time. It’s not going to be easy, but it is also not impossible too. We look forward to a good season,” Coach Fernandez claimed.

Schedule of games: