INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines ? The Philippine Sports Commission yesterday handed out rewards to the RP taekwondo team members who amassed 37 medals ? including 14 golds ? in the recent Southeast Asian championships held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

PSC chair Harry Angping said he approved of the P10,000 incentive to each gold, P5,000 to silver and P3,000 to bronze winners. Coaches were also given P5,000 each.

The RP jins wound up overall champion with 14 golds, 13 silvers and 10 bronzes in the event, beating host Vietnam, which took 10 golds.

?It's time to reward them for honor they provided to the country,'' said Angping during a courtesy call by national team players in his office Thursday.

Team coach Rocky Samson said the performance of the Nationals in the Vietnam event can gauge how they will perform in the Laos Southeast Asian Games later this year.

?We had 27 RP jins in the finals, and almost all of them were against Vietnamese,'' added Samson.

Spearheading the gold medal winners were veterans Alex Briones, Jeff Figueroa, Marlon Avenido, Eunice Alora, Elaine Alora, Criselda Roxas.

Camille Jalarilla and Janice Lagman headed the junior team, which also bagged the gold in the poomse or form events.

Taekwondo has always been a strong suit for the Philippines in the SEA Games, although the country only won a single gold in the 2007 Thailand games.

Olympian Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero skipped the event but, according to Samson, they are still being considered to don the national colors in Laos in December.