Bond grows stronger for tight-knit PH poomsae team

Philippine men’s poomsae team after winning its second straight SEA Games gold medal. Marc Anthony Reyes/INQUIRER

KUALA LUMPUR — They work out together. They train together. They win together.

Dustin Jacob Mella, Raphael Enrico Mella and Rodolfo Reyes Jr. bonded very well as they moved seamless toward the Southeast Asian Games  taekwondo poomsae gold medal Saturday.

READ: PH men’s poomsae team bags back-to-back SEAG golds

“These two guys are brothers, I’m like the adopted son,” said Reyes, referring to the Mella brothers.

They won their second straight SEA Games gold in the same event, although the winning tradition dated back from 2013 for the Mella, who played with a different teammate back then.

Together they won bronze in 2014 World Championships in Mexico.

“We are very close because we bonded a lot during training and work out,” said Raphael, who is taking up computer science at La Salle.

Reyes shed happy tears as he just came off a bronze medal finish in the individual event after a clean routine. Malaysia won the men’s individual event and Indonesia was seconds.

“All our hard work paid off,” said Dustin.

They will see action in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games next month.