Cebu picked to host nat’l taekwondo again

Zozen Prajes (left) of the University of Cebu wins Cebu’s first gold.
(CDN PHOTO CHRISTIAN MANINGO)

WITH its flawless hosting of the ongoing Smart National Inter-School Taekwondo Championship, the Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) has decided to have Cebu host the event again next year.

PTA committee of games xhairman Rocky Samson confirmed this to CDN yesterday at the SM Seaside City Cebu.

This is the first time that the tournament was held outside Metro Manila and the Queen City of the South was chosen to host it again in 2017 “because Cebu is very strong in taekwondo,” Samson told Cebu Daily News.

“We have the World Poomsae championships ongoing in Peru and two Cebuanos have won medals there,” Samson said.

The two-day tournament has attracted 530 jins from all over the country, said PTA-7 Regional Director Tony del Prado.

It is considered as one of the biggest national-level taekwondo events this year with all the logistics, including the latest instant video replay technology, shipped here from Manila.

As of press time, only University of Cebu’s Zozen Prajes has snared a gold for Cebu.

Prajes defeated Reah Alkuino of Baybay City in the advanced junior women’s heavy weight division final, 6-1. Her teammate Dineson Cañeda advanced to the gold medal match of
the advanced junior men’s class against a still to be determined foe.

Meanwhile, other UC fighters also booked semifinal berths including Dominic Sator (advanced junior men-welter), Ellen Joy Villacarlos (advanced junior women-light middle),
Princess Maegan Parba (advanced junior women-welter), and Kissha Barro (advanced junior women-fin).