By June Ace G. Esteban
Vying for ultimate supremacy, Far Eastern University (FEU) Taekwondo team exemplified that they will not hold back their kicks until the final force is unleashed.
Tamaraws put on a kick-fest with the strongest of the Philippines in the Samsung Best of the Best Taekwondo Championships at the Rizal Stadium last December 6.
In the male category, seventh seed Romelle Roa harvested the golden fruit of his labor as third seed Karla Jane Alava doubled her efforts to capture the gold medal in the Men and Women’s featherweight division. Women’s captain Marifi Gadit put the last one in the sack.
“Actually, satisfied ako kasi nag-gold ako, at pinaghandaan ko talaga ‘tong laban na ‘to. Ayun, fruitful naman (I’m satisfied for getting the gold and I really prepared for this match. I’m glad it was fruitful),” Roa said in high spirit.
In the same catchweight, first seed Joshua Singson and Team Captain Emmanuel Paulite yielded on the early matches but Roa avenged them with an eye-to-eye 5-4 finals victory over San Sebastian College-Recolletos’ Mark Andres, fourth seed of the featherweights.
Spearheading the male jins’ furious rampage were lightweights Jeffrey Paulite and Asher Live España, bantamweight Ken Cariaga, flyweight Reymar Bartolome and finweights Miguel Alberto and Rolf Gagujas.
Exchanging and enduring flurry of kicks from the female jins included featherweight Ashiel Ann Vedana, Bantamweight Beatrice Ventura, flyweights April Rowena, Cecilia Viray and finweights Winlove dela Cerna and Mira Taculog.
Assistant Coach Ian Hernandez and former green and gold captain Richelle Dinolan supervised the Tams during the hostilities.
“Okay naman ‘yung performance nila, actually, maganda naman lahat ng laban nila. Lahat naman sila binigay ‘yung best nila (They performed well enough. They gave their best),” Dinolan said.
“Parang paghahanda na rin kasi ito para sa next season ng UAAP. Ito ang starting point for the next season kasi UAAP talaga ang pinaka-target naming season (This is a preparation, a starting point. Our utmost priority is the next UAAP season),” she added.