Women’s loss ‘fired up’ poomsae men

SINGAPORE—The shock failure of their women counterparts to land the gold was the spark that fired up the men’s team to pull off a thrilling win.

“We saw the women, they were so depressed. We couldn’t let them down,” said Dustin Jacob Mella. “It fired us up.”

Mella, a business economics senior at University of the Philippines, was the leader of the SEA Games golden team also made up of his young brother, Raphael Enrico, who just turned 19 last April, and long-time friend Rodolfo Reyes Jr.

Upon stepping foot on the mat at Singapore Expo Hall 2, the trio said they “quickly zoned in, and focused on the routine.”

“This is the prize of long hours of training,” said Dustin. “This is not for ourselves anymore.”