UAAP: Green Jins take home gold, Lady Jins finish third

The DLSU Jins finished their UAAP campaigns this year with respectable podium finishes. The Green Jins finished ahead of the competition to finally bag the elusive men’s crown, while the Lady Jins were unable to defend their championship as they fell to the third spot. The last time the Green Jins won the championship was in 2010.

Fierce taekwondo rivals DLSU and UST showed their dominance as the Green Jins claimed the men’s title that was held by UST for two years. The women’s title, which was previously held by La Salle, is now in the hands of UST. Both the Green Jins and UST’s Lady Jins blew their competition away with an undefeated record in six games to bag the championship.

Philippine team veteran Kris Uy clinched the title for La Salle as he bested UST’s Jeicco Lozano, 15-6. The win gave the Green Archers a 4-3 win to clinch the championship. Both UST and La Salle came into the final match of the season with undefeated records after five games, and the final match of the season determined the final standings at the podium.

DLSU’s Coach Roberto Cruz expressed his thoughts with spin.ph after clinching the championship saying, “Nagtrabaho lahat ng players ko para makuha namin ito ngayon.”

The Lady Jins finished third in this year’s competition behind champions UST and runner-up UP as the ladies from Taft ended their campaign with a 4-2 record.  After an undefeated start to the season after their first four games, the Lady Jins were stunned by UST to snap their unbeaten run. The next game against UP was the same story and they were sent to third place in the final day of the tournament after a promising start.

The DLSU Jins from both the men’s and women’s divisions garnered numerous awards, led by Kevin Sia who was awarded tournament’s best as he bagged the MVP plum for the men’s division. On the other side, Nicole Cham of UST was named the MVP of the women’s division.

The UAAP also added the poomsae championship for the first time in history, also a part of the General Championship race. UST won the inaugural tourney which features both men and women while UP was second. Ateneo was third, FEU was fourth and La Salle finished fifth in the field of five. Poomsae is a derivation from traditional Taekwondo and competitors are made to perform moves against an imaginary foe.

The Green Jins seek back-to-back championships for the first time since the 1998 and 1999 season as they have an intact roster next season. “Next year, mag pa-practice pa kami ng mas mabuti para mag stay sa amin itong title na ’to. Tsaka we still have the same players for next year,” added Cruz in his interview with spin.ph.