Agojo nails lone PH As-Pac taekwondo gold medal

ILOILO CITY—Francis Aaron Agojo outscored Jenar Torrillos with wicked combinations to the head and body for a convincing 15-3 victory Saturday in the all-Filipino men’s flyweight final of the 2015 Asia-Pacific Taekwondo Invitational Championship.

The 19-year-old world university champion surged to an early seven-point lead in the first two minutes after connecting with a pair of head kicks before evading the charging Torrillos the rest of the way.

“I just had to defend and intercept the attacks after I piled up those points early,” said Agojo after his third international win following gold-medal performances for Ateneo in the 2014 World University Taekwondo Championship in China and last year’s Asean University Championship in Indonesia.

Agojo, a national team mainstay like Torrillos, was also a silver medalist in the 2013 Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, and the Burma (Myanmar) Southeast Asian Games.

Flyweight Levita Rona Ilao and featherweight Pauline Louise Lopez also made it to the finals but failed to go all the way.

Asian Gamer Truong Thi Kim Tuyen of Vietnam made short work of Ilao, who competed in the NCAA for Lyceum. He scored on a back kick to the torso and a clear hit to the head in the opening round en route to a 9-3 win.

Among those who fell prey to Tuyen were SEA Games bronze medalist Mary Anjelay Pelaez, Japan’s Momoko Kamichika and Bermejo, who toppled Korean Jeong Seo Jin in the quarterfinals.

Pelaez pulled her right hamstring and crumpled on the mat after delivering a high kick to Tuyen’s head, forcing the referee to stop the fight with 27 seconds left. Pelaez was later brought out on a stretcher.

Lopez, a bronze medalist in the 2013 SEAG playing for the US in this meet, suffered the same fate from Korean Yoon Jeong-yeon, whose lightning-quick barrage resulted in an 11-0 win in the women’s under-57 kg.

The Philippines, which collected one gold and two silver medals, also got five bronzes courtesy of featherweights Enrico Edgardo Mora and Paul Romero, flyweight Wasber Rassad, flyweight Irene Therese Bermejo and featherweight Darlene Mae Arpon.

Mongolia’s Purevjav Temujin seized victory in the men’s featherweight by downing Korean Kang Ji-suk, 11-6.