THE Philippines continued to gain ground in the world’s poomsae competition, finishing sixth over-all in the recent 10th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships held in Lima, Peru.
Some 800 athletes from 55 countries took part, with Republic of Korea winning eight golds, one silver, and four bronze medals. The Philippines got three golds and five bronzes.
The rest of the Top 5 are Turkey, United States of America, China and Chinese Taipei. Trailing behind the Philippines are Vietnam and Iran at seventh and eighth places, respectively.
Among the top finishers is Filipino Jeordan Dominguez, who was also named MVP for freestyle poomsae, alongside Ukrainian Anna Borysenko for the distaff side.
National head coach Jean Pierre Sabido told Bacolod sports scribes that the Philippines’ performance has shown the world what our country’s poomsae team can do.
“We can actually do better than that, only if we sent a complete contingent. While other countries sent players for all entries, the Philippines only have those in the seniors, yet we were able to deliver the medals for the country,” he added.
After its debut as a demonstration sports during the 2007 South East Asian Games (SEAG), poomsae event will be an official medal sports in next year’s SEAG in Malaysia.
“So far, we are doing well in the Southeast Asia, with Vietnam as our closest rival,” he said. “Right now, I’m helping NTU Tigers head coach Pauline Reyes in promoting poomsae in Bacolod.”
Sabido said that Bacolod and Negros Occidental have strong potentials in poomsae.
“I was even surprised when I first came in. I never expected that lots of youngsters here can really perform poomsae – which is usually done during the belting process,” he added.
“If we can really give focus on this sport, our country can perform well in the international stage,” he added. (HGD)