The Philippine men’s poomsae team successfully defended its gold medal at the start of the 29th Southeast Asian Games taekwondo competition at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center here.
The trio of Dustin Jacob Mella, Raphael Enrico Mella and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr. had a near-flawless execution to gain a total of 8.40 points and beat five other rivals in an event that the Nationals have been dominating since the Myanmar SEA Games in 2013.
Malaysia settled for the silver medal and Indonesia for the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, the women’s squad of Jocel Lyn Ninobla, Rinna Babanto and Juvenile Faye Crisostomo tallied 8.27 points to settle for bronze.
Reyes also won the bronze in men’s individual event.
Both Raphael and Dustin Mella were part of the team that won the gold in 2013 and 2015 SEA Games while Reyes joined the team only this year.
“All the hard work and sacrifices paid off. Lahat ng mga hirap naming sa training was worth it,” said the 22-year-old Dustin, a Business Economics student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and eldest of four siblings.
“We trained almost half day daily plus yung workouts pa. Binigay lang naming ang best namin para sa bansa at naging patas naman ang mga judges,” said Raphael of the team that also won the bronze in the Korean Open last June.
Reyes was also overwhelmed with the victory, saying their four years together helped a lot.
They will just rest for a few days to start preparing for the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games this coming September 17-27 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
SOURCE: http://sports.abs-cbn.com/seagames/news/2017/08/26/ph-men-s-poomsae-strikes-gold-defends-seag-title-30225