After almost three long years, the De La Salle Taekwondo (DELTA) Poomsae team returned to action today, May 31, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena for UAAP Season 84’s Poomsae tournament.
DELTA secured several medals throughout the competition and bagged a second runner-up finish in the overall championship. Meanwhile, the UST and NU taekwondo teams won as champion and first runner-up, respectively. With their flawless routines, DELTA won medals across all categories—proving their worth as one of the best taekwondo programs in the UAAP. Recent SEA Games silver medalist Patrick King Perez garnered a gold medal at the Individual Male event, while Sofia Ysabelle Sarmiento won bronze at the Individual Female competition. Perez also finished second at the Mixed Pair event with teammate Mikee Rose Regala.
Regala, Zyka Angelica Santiago, and Daphne Ching then secured a bronze finish at the Female Team event, as well as Jesse Daniel Ignacio, Michael Porras, and John Aldrin Pacana at the Male Team event to cap off the tournament.
Consistency across the board
No stranger to the UAAP stage, former rookie of the year Perez brought his superiority to the local collegiate scene by winning his third-straight gold medal in the Individual Male event—cementing his hold as national champion.
Despite going through consecutive tournaments, Perez shared that he had a cautious approach in balancing all of his athletic affairs, “Siguro noong una, nahirapan [ako] pero inisip ko nalang na one step at a time [dapat] para hindi ko siya mapag-halo halo, lalo [dahil] nanggaling ako sa world championship and then SEA Games, [tapos] ngayon UAAP, [kaya] one step at a time naging mindset ko doon.”
(At first, I had a difficult time balancing it all, but I just thought that I should approach the tournament one step at a time to avoid mixing everything up because I came from the world championship, then the SEA Games, and now the UAAP.)
Serving as the team captain of DELTA, Perez shared that he was overjoyed with his team’s performance today—despite not matching Season 82’s championship finish. “Sobrang happy ako sa naging results namin -kahit hindi namin na-defend ‘yung three-peat throne. Naging proud din ako sa teammates ko dahil lahat kami ngayon may nauwing medal, all categories may medal.”
(I’m very happy with our results today even though we failed to defend our throne and attain the three-peat. I’m very proud of my teammates because everyone brought home a medal across all categories.
DLSU coach Brian Sabido echoed Perez’s sentiments, stressing how proud he was of the team’s UAAP stint, “It’s the best I’ve seen from them. They had to compete with themselves. I think they did better than what I saw during training. I can say [na] best performance namin ngayon.”
Staying on course
After two years of no action in the collegiate stage, DELTA had to go through the rigorous challenges of online training, especially since the team was not physically together as a unit as they dealt with the “general adaptation to the environment.” Sabido disclosed his squad spent “about three weeks face-to-face [training]” ahead of today’s events.
Perez seemed optimistic of the team’s bonding despite the absence of physical training and competition, sharing that there were remedies to the unique situation, “Meron din kaming online competitions kahit online national competitions [nagkakamedal] pa rin kami and pasok pa rin lagi sa top five standing on the national level. Tuloy-tuloy parin kami kaya napaghahandaan namin ‘yung ganitong competition.”
(We had online competitions, including online national competitions in which we secured medals and consistently finished within the top five standing on the national level. We did not stop, which is why we got to prepare well for this competition.)
Limitless potential for the Green-and-White
Although coach Sabido expressed his satisfaction with today’s performance, he admitted that they must still go back to the drawing board, “I have some stuff to discuss with my team because there’s a lot of room for improvement. We had a very good performance. I know they can do better, so much better, so much potential. So, we’ll be busy trying to find what [we] can do to improve.”
Amid extravagant success on the local and international level, Perez stays committed to DLSU, “It’s really an honor to be part of this team. Ever since nag-start ako as a rookie, meron na kaming naging branding na makikilala ng lahat na kami ang DLSU team. [After] winning a three-peat for my individual event, I’m still looking forward to my final UAAP [season].”
(Ever since I started as a rookie, our team has always had a unique branding for everyone to know that we represent DLSU.)
With a squad of committed athletes and one more playing year left for its current captain, DELTA is more than capable of bringing glory to the Green and White in the seasons to come.
