La Salle, UST jins shine
De La Salle Taekwondo team fought its way past undermanned defending champions UST Tiger Jins to claim its first title in a decade in the 73rd UAAP Men’s Taekwondo Competition at the Arena in San Juan.
Despite the loss, UST remained winners in the taekwondo meet, with the Tiger Cubs sweeping the Juniors Division Finals and the UST Tigresses snatching back the Women’s division crown with a 5-2 domination of the FEU Lady Tamaraws, the same team they went up against last season in the Finals.
Xavier Stepanek sealed La Salle’s hard fought victory with a 7-6 decider over UST’s Dane Pio Roda to clinch a 4-1 score before the Tiger Jins opted to withdraw in their last two no-bearing matches.
The taller Stepanek even trailed behind by 3-6 early in the fight, but fought his way back to give La Salle its 7th Taekwondo title in the UAAP.
“We’re very thankful that it worked for us today. UST is a very strong team,” said La Salle coach Stephen Fernandez.
“We really worked hard for this. It’s not easy going against a team like UST,” he added.
Before the final decision was rendered, UST put the Stepanek-Roda match into protest but the result was ultimately ruled in favor of La Salle.
UST Tiger Jins failed to extend its title run to a three peat as they played sans two key players, including national team member Nicole Mapilisan, who is sidelined with an ACL.
“At least the decision of the referee was followed to declare us winners. Everything paid off,” said Fernandez whose squad had a 2-0 head start due to UST’s injured line up.
In the first day of the Taekwondo meet last September 28, La Salle defeated FEU (5-2), Ateneo (6-1) and UE (5-2), to set up a finals meeting with UST, who likewise swept its first four assignments. Celest Flores and Mark Giongco, photo by Mark Giongco
Despite the loss, UST remained winners in the taekwondo meet, with the Tiger Cubs sweeping the Juniors Division Finals and the UST Tigresses snatching back the Women’s division crown with a 5-2 domination of the FEU Lady Tamaraws, the same team they went up against last season in the Finals.
Xavier Stepanek sealed La Salle’s hard fought victory with a 7-6 decider over UST’s Dane Pio Roda to clinch a 4-1 score before the Tiger Jins opted to withdraw in their last two no-bearing matches.
The taller Stepanek even trailed behind by 3-6 early in the fight, but fought his way back to give La Salle its 7th Taekwondo title in the UAAP.
“We’re very thankful that it worked for us today. UST is a very strong team,” said La Salle coach Stephen Fernandez.
“We really worked hard for this. It’s not easy going against a team like UST,” he added.
Before the final decision was rendered, UST put the Stepanek-Roda match into protest but the result was ultimately ruled in favor of La Salle.
UST Tiger Jins failed to extend its title run to a three peat as they played sans two key players, including national team member Nicole Mapilisan, who is sidelined with an ACL.
“At least the decision of the referee was followed to declare us winners. Everything paid off,” said Fernandez whose squad had a 2-0 head start due to UST’s injured line up.
In the first day of the Taekwondo meet last September 28, La Salle defeated FEU (5-2), Ateneo (6-1) and UE (5-2), to set up a finals meeting with UST, who likewise swept its first four assignments. Celest Flores and Mark Giongco, photo by Mark Giongco
