Zozen Prajes (blue) of the University of Cebu scored 6 against at the Heavy Division finals of of the National Interschool Taekwondo Championship at SM Seaside. (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
CEBUANO taekwondo players continued show fine performance in home soil as they piled up gold medals in the Smart National Inter-School Taekwondo Championships last Saturday night at SM Seaside City Cebu.
Leading the Cebuanos’ gold medal haul were University of Cebu’s (UC) Dineson Cañeda, Mayn Coran, Zozen Prajes, and University of San Carlos’ (USC) Loralee Natividad, who ruled their respective weight divisions in the advanced junior category.
The multi-awarded Cañeda bagged another gold medal in his collection after he defeated Pablo Rommel of Fiore Del Carmelo School in Quezon City in the final of the flyweight junior men’s division.
Coran edged out Diliman Preparatory School’s (DPS) Danishelle Javillonar in the feather junior women’s category while Prajes bagged his own gold with a win over Baybay City’s Reah Alkuino in the heavy weight class.
In the welterweight division, Natividad trounced Riana Navarra of DPS to snatch gold in the tournament that drew around 530 participants.
Dominic Sator and Niel Patrick Seares of UC also chipped in golds for the Cebuanos.
Sator nipped fellow Webmaster Michael Boncales in the welterjunior men’s final, while Seares thwarted Colegio San Nicolas’ Christian Abellar in the featherweight division.
As of this writing, UC’s Arwen Sarrosa was still playing Jhon De La Cruz of Rafael Lacson High School in a gold medal match.
Another Webmaster Alea Sedulo delivered gold as she conquered the elementary girls’ novice category with a win over School of the Future’s Rubie Balinas.
The tournament, which is one of the biggest national taekwondo competition this year, was held outside Metro Manila for the first time.
The remaining games in the advanced junior boys and girls categories were still being played as of press time.