Poomsae trio bags Asian taekwondo gold

Three members of the Philippine men’s taekwondo team arrived Tuesday from Vietnam with a shiny gold medal hanging around each one’s neck.

Marvin Gabriel, Jean Pierre Sabido and Galilee Tinaya flaunted dazzling form and ruled the 2nd Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships held in Ho Chi Minh recently.

Earning the nod of the judges, the Filipinos defeated their rivals from host Vietnam in the finals of the men’s team under-29 category, highlighting a sparkling show by the Philippines which also seized a pair of silver medals and a bronze in the men’s individual event.

Gabriel, fast making a name for himself in the taekwondo discipline of forms, bagged a silver in the junior male individual category of the 6th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships last year in Vladivostok, Russia.

Former women’s world team champions Rani Ortega, Janice Lagman and Camille Alarilla settled for the silver this time, losing the gold to Vietnam’s under-29 trio.

The men’s trio of Edrick Galing, Ernesto Guzman and Glenn Lava finished second to an Iranian team in the men’s over-29 class.

Ortega, Lagman and Alarilla shot to fame when they captured the gold in the 2009 World Taekwondo Championship in Cairo.

The ravishing trio also delivered a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games last year in Indonesia last year after settling for the bronze in the 2011 world championships.

Guzman capped the Filipinos’ fine stint in the Asian meet on May 5 with a medal in the individual event, landing third behind jins from South Korea (gold) and Iran (silver).