INQUIRER Sports

SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES CHAMPION Elaine Alora captured a gold medal while upcoming Carla Alava bagged a bronze at the recent Korean Open taekwondo championships in Seoul.

The 19-year-old Alora beat a Chinese Taipei fighter in the finals of the middleweight division while Alava bested another Taiwanese to secure the bronze in the featherweight class.

The Filipinos also amassed five gold, four silver and five bronze medals in the junior competition aside from winding up overall champion in the poomse division over Thailand and Singapore.

Head coach Rocky Samson said the Korean Open served as major highlight of the 21-day training in South Korea by a 50-man RP team made up of seniors, juniors and poomse jins.

The next target of the Filipinos is the world championship in Denmark slated Oct. 14 to 18 where the country will be fielding a team of six male and six female jins.

The country is also hoping to improve its single-medal output in the 2007 Thailand Southeast Asian Games in the coming Laos SEA Games.