The De La Salle Taekwondo (DELTA) Men’s and Women’s Poomsae teams reclaim the championship in the recently concluded UAAP Season 81 Taekwondo Tournament held last November 6 to 9 at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym.
Meanwhile, the DELTA Kyorugi Women’s team made an impact this season as they clinched a spot in the podium, winning third behind UST and NU, respectively. On the other hand, the DELTA Kyorugi Men’s team fails to make it to the podium as they fell fifth in this year’s tournament.
The DELTA Kyorugi women’s team finished this season with a podium finish. “Deserve namin to’ kasi alam namin yung pinaghirapan namin, dugo’t pawis talaga binuhos namin sa training.” team captain Lovely Avancena shares.
(We deserve this because we know what we work for, we poured out blood and sweat during our training.)
DLSU Poomsae reclaims the title
Settling with silver last season, the DELTA Poomsae team bounced back and reclaimed the championship title which they had previously won in Season 79. The DELTA Poomsae team outgunned UST, who failed to keep their title from last season, and was followed by UP.
The DELTA Poomsae team made their presence felt throughout the tournament as they tallied three golds and one bronze.
Both of the individual teams of the DELTA Poomsae team clinched a gold medal for their respective events. Rinna Babanto clinched gold for the female division, who gutted it out with UP’s Janna Oliva, having a score of 8.180. Likewise, Patrick Perez clinched a gold medal for the male category, having a score of 8.305.
Meanwhile, in the mixed Poomsae event, Babanto and Perez tallied 8.235 to clinch another gold medal for the team from Taft. UST and UP followed with 8.2 and 8.015, respectively.
Individual awards
Babanto bested all other female competitors as she was hailed the Most Valuable Player for the women’s poomsae this season. It is the very first MVP award to be given to a member of the Green-and-White. Meanwhile, Perez bagged the Rookie of the Year honors in the male category.
Team captain Avancena and Rookie of the Year Akila Gabrielle Boloto bagged gold medals in the fin weight division and lightweight division, respectively. Meanwhile, graduating player Gabrielle Yuchingtat won a silver medal in the middle-heavyweight division. On the welter weight division, Shanelle Romuar added a bronze medal to help the cause of the DELTA Kyorugi women’s team.
What seemed like a dream for her, Boloto claimed the Rookie of the Year honors in the Taekwondo Tournament. “Lahat sila sinasabi nila kaya ko mag-Rookie of the Year. Sinasabi ko lang talaganawalaakodito para sasarili ko, I’m here for my team.”
(They all say I can be Rookie of the Year. I just tell them that I’m not here for myself, I’m here for my team.)
Meanwhile, Alvaro Aranton, the Rookie of the Year last season, bagged a gold medal in the middle-heavyweight division, as Gian Gutierrez bagged bronze for the fin weight division.
Reaching new heights
The DELTA Kyorugi Women’s team opened their campaign with a 1-1 win-loss record. They secured their first win outclassing the ADMU Lady Eagles winning five out of seven matches. The other set did not go well as they succumbed to a last minute defeat from back-to-back champions NU. The DELTA Kyorugi Men’s team equally fought well but failed to secure their assignments versus UST and UP, 3-4 and 2-5, respectively.
The next day of the tournament brought in mixed results. The women’s team replicated their performance by splitting their win-loss record. The men’s team, on the other hand, saw improvement as they were able to grab their first victory, splitting their record likewise.
The last day of the competition saw the DELTA team pushing themselves to the limits. The women’s team gave the crowd a nailbiter when they escaped the UE Lady Warriors 4-3. The last set of their tournament run cemented them a podium finish when they decimated FEU in convincing fashion, 7-0. The men’s team, on the other hand, wanted to finish strong given the circumstances. A 4-3 win against gritty ADMU gave them the momentum needed for the next set. But things did not go as expected when the streaking NU cruised through, 4-3.
The men’s team captain of the DELTA Kyorugi, IR Donato, on the other hand, shared his insight on the recently concluded tournament, “A lot of unexpected things happened but then it turned pretty well in the end.”
Although the men’s taekwondo team failed to clinch a spot in the podium finish, head coach Roberto Cruz was satisfied with their performance. “At least may dalawa kaming panalo in spite of yung player namin na isa nagkaroon ng injury agad so okay naman.”
(At least we have two wins in spite of one of our players getting injured so it’s okay.)
When asked what’s next after the UAAP, coach Roberto shares, “May upcoming PTL (Philippine Taekwondo League) naman kami na ongoing competition. Siguro preparation namin for next season.”
The DELTA Poomsae team and the DELTA Kyorugi women’s team contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively, for La Salle in the UAAP General Championship (GC) Race.
