SEA Games: Poomsae trio, UST lass taekwondo champions

JAKARTA—A fancied trio got the revenge it wanted and an obscure lass from University of Santo Tomas announced her arrival as taekwondo struck for two golds Saturday in the 26th Southeast Asian Games here.

The charming poomsae trio of Ann Ortega, Camille Alarilla and Janice Lagman pulled off a vengeful win against their arch rivals from Vietnam, and Camille Manalo outclassed another Vietnamese in the finals of the women’s under 62-kg division.

Ortega, Alarilla and Lagman nipped Tuyet Van Chau, Thi Le Kim Nguyen and Thi Thu Ngan Nguyen, 8.26-8.21, for the poomsae gold and avenged their loss to the same Vietnamese in the world championship earlier this year in Egypt.

To underscore their superiority, only the two countries put in entries in the event that provided the major highlight of the competition at the Popki Sport Hall in Cicibur.

The 21-year-old Manalo, a BS Education senior, overwhelmed Vietnam’s Thanh Thao Nguyen with a relentless attack from the second round to seize the gold, 7-3.

The luck of the draw had the 5-foot-8 Manalo drawing a bye and an outright slot in the semifinals, where she scored a 3-2 decision over Indonesia’s Vony Dyan Permeta.

Nguyen also prevailed by the same 3-2 score in ousting Thailand’s Ratcha Pornanant in one of the most-applauded matches leading to the championship.

“I am very happy because no one really expected this,” said Manalo, a Games rookie who trailed, 0-1, early.

“Our ladies had a lot riding on this one,” Rocky Samson, coach of the taekwondo squad, said of the Filipino trio. “For them, this was more than the SEA Games because Vietnam was again their opponent. They were driven no end.”

Teener Marvin Gabriel, meanwhile, settled for the men’s individual poomsae bronze and then partnered with Shaneen Ched Sia for the silver in the pairs event.

“I am a little bit disappointed in the individual game because I think I am better than the Indonesian,” said the 17-year-old Gabriel, who scored a total of 7.76 points compared to the 8.30 of Indonesia’s Daniel Danny Harso and the 8.10 of Vietnam’s Dinh Toan Nguyen.

The Gabriel-Sia pair garnered 8.02 points and lost to the individual silver medal winner and teammate Minh Tu Nguyen (8.13).