MANILA – Expect the Philippine taekwondo team to deliver gold medals during the 30th Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
Barcelona Olympics bronze medalist Stephen Fernandez cannot be wrong.
“Our taekwondo team will definitely surpass our achievements in the last SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur two years ago,” Fernandez said during the 11th Tabloids Organization in Philippine Sports (TOPS) “Usapang Sports” at the National Press Club in Intramuros, Manila on Thursday.
Fernandez agreed with 2019 SEAG chef de mission and Makati Rep. Monsour del Rosario that the taekwondo association is preparing hard for the SEA Games.
“As host country in the SEA Games, ayaw naman natin na mapahiya tayo dito sa taekwondo community natin (we will not let our taekwondo community down),” said Fernandez, who represented the country twice in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and 1992 in Barcelona where he won the bronze medal.
The Filipinos captured two golds, three silvers and four bronzes in the last SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017.
Winning the gold were Morrison in the men’s kyorugi lightweight division and the team of Reyes and the Mella brothers in the men’s poomsae event.
While he did not predict the exact medals that the country would win, Fernandez said he is confident that the country’s leading taekwondo jins would deliver.
“We have Pauline Lopez, one of our top bets in the female category. Samuel Morrison is also there in the men’s division. And we have a formidable poomsae team made up JR Reyes and the Mella brothers, Dustin Jacob and Raphael Enrico,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez, who was also appointed as sports director of the College of St. Benilde in 2013, also agreed with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine National Anti-Doping Organization (PHINADO) about the many anti-doping measures being taken as part of the SEAG hosting.
“We really have to educate our athletes about all these anti-doping measures,” said Fernandez, who said Dr. Raul Canlas is the right man to supervise this matter.
Fernandez was one of four personalities, who attended the weekly session sponsored by the PSC and the National Press Club and shown live on Facebook via Glitter Livestream.
Also present were MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes, who talked about the coming MPBL Al-Star Weekend scheduled on March 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena; Community Basketball Association (CBA) operations manager Beaujing Acot and Nueva Ecija Defenders team owner, lawyer Bong Africa. (PR)
