Taekwondo-jins in hot pursuit of Asiad gold

MANILA—The gold medal is long overdue.   National taekwondo head coach Rocky Samson said it’s high time the country nailed its first ever Asian Games gold in Guangzhou next month after plenty of past misses, including two very close calls four years ago in Doha.   Appearing as guest during the Scoop sa Kamayan session Friday, Samson said the players are working very hard to achieve a breakthrough Asiad victory.   Filipino jins, he said, are always considered as top gold prospects.   In 2004, Olympians Mary Antoinette Rivero and Tshomlee Go barged into the finals of the women’s welterweight and men’s bantamweight, respectively.   Both bowed to Koreans, who ended up scooping a total of nine golds.   Rivero won’t be around this time after injuring her knee, leaving Go to spearhead the country’s campaign along with John Paul Lizardo and the promising Butch Morrison.   Lizardo (finweight) is a silver medalist in the 2010 Asian championships in Kazakhstan, while the 6-foot-2 Morrison (lightweight) is the lone gold winner in the Korea Open, where he bested Olym-pic bronze medalist Song Byung-sup.   The team spent three weeks of training and competition in South Korea, before coming back home to host the Korean Teams A and B in joint training and simulated competition at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex recently.   THE OTHER RP BETS: Men—Paul Romero (flyweight), Jeffrey Figueroa (featherweight) and Marlon Avenido (welterweight); Women—Jyra Lizardo (flyweight), Jade Zafra (bantamweight), Karla Alava (featherweight), Camille Manalo (lightweight) and Elaine Alora (middleweight).