6 jins join PH team
World champion Mikaela Calamba, 5 other Cebuanos to represent PH in tournaments abroad
SIX Cebuanos will be seeing action for the Philippine national taekwondo team in international tournaments in May and June.
“Six of our players are now in Manila for national team training. This includes the five --Rinna Babanto, Moses Bullicer, Miguel Calamba, Nichole Maurin and Maegan Bugarin--who will be competing in the Asean Taekwondo Championships in Myanmar on May 9 to 11 and World Poomsae champion Mikaela Calamba, who will compete in the Asian Junior Championships that will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, ”Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) Region 7 chairman Tony del Prado told Sun. Star Cebu.
Babanto will compete in the women’s individual category; Bullicer and Miguel will be joined by NCR’s Dustin Mella in the men’s team division; Bugarin will team up with two other jins from Manila in the women’s team division; while Maurin is partnered with NCR’s Rico Mella for the Pair category.
Team Philippines will be competing against neighboring countries Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in the Asean Taekwondo Championships.
World champion and Sportswriters Association of Cebu 2012 “Athlete of the Year” Mikaela is against more stiff competition against 40 different countries including pow- erhouse South Korea and China.
Mikaela, at 15 years old, became the first Filipino to win a gold medal in an individual event in the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships last December in Colombia.
She was the youngest player in the RP National squad and competed against older competitors in the Women’s Open category, wherein she beat Vietnam’s Van Chau and USA’s Bernadette Rodriguez.