Barbosa suffers Olympic curse
The curse that has long been haunting Filipino jins claimed yet another victim as Kurt Barbosa surrendered to Jang Jun of South Korea, 6-26, in the opening round of the taekwondo competition of the Tokyo Olympics at the Makuhari Messe Hall A Saturday.
Ranged against a taller, more seasoned foe, Barbosa absorbed a string of body kicks that left him grasping for form before completely bowing out of gold medal contention of the men’s 58kg event of this quadrennial spectacle.
The Korean did use his height to his advantage.
Jang, the world’s No. 1 taekwondo bet, chalked an early 12-1 lead before dictating the tempo the rest of the way.
Game official stopped the match at 1:47 mark of the third round after the Korean unloaded a series of body hits that further widened the gap and dimmed Barbosa’s chance of emerging as the country’s first Filipino to win an Olympic gold medal.
Philippine Taekwondo Association director Stephen Fernandez watched the match and observed that it was an obvious mismatch in favor of the Korean.
“The Korean did use his height to his advantage. If Kurt tries to get inside, he has two options: Either he uses his front leg or his turning side kick which kept our player at bay,” said Fernandez, the who also fell short of winning a gold medal in the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
“Definitely, this experience will enrich his knowledge of the sport. I’m sure when they get back, they will make assessments and he will sit down with the coaches.”
Barbosa, a gold medalist in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, still had a chance to settle for the bronze medal in the repechage later in the day.
Unfortunately, Jang suffered a sorry loss to Mohamed Jendoubi of Tunisia, 25-19, prompting the Filipino to end up empty-handed. Fernandez said he could relate to Barbosa’s fate. In fact, when he campaigned in the Seoul Games, he was also in the same weight class as Barbosa and suffered a heartbreaking loss to hometown favorite and topseed Ha Tae-kyung in the Round of 16.
“Just to share, I had a similar experience to the one that Kurt went through. He fought against a top-seeded opponent right after the opening ceremonies, just like I did in Seoul in 1988,” Fernandez said, ruing the idea that taekwondo was still a demonstration sport during his time.
Since then, Filipino jins suffer an Olympic curse with Elaine Kirstie Alora the last to bomb out in the Round of 16 of the Rio Games.
“I hope he continues to re-dedicate himself to the game after the Olympics and continues because he is still very young,” Fernandez said.
“There are many more tournaments he can join, especially the Olympics. The road will not be easy but who knows, the second time might be sweeter if gets the chance to go to Paris.”