Cebuana jin Nica Garces eyeing slot in Philippine Team for Southeast Asian Games

Cebuana jin Nica Garces is hoping to get a slot in the 30th Southeast Asian Games which the Philippines will be hosting from November 30 to December 10, 2019. | CDN file

CEBU CITY, Philippines —As a six-year veteran of the Philippine Taekwondo team, Cebuana Nica Garces has brought glory to the country countless times in international competitions. 

This year, the 20-year-old jin is aiming for something bigger.

Once known as the darling of sparring events in her secondary years at the University of Cebu (UC), Garces is looking to be part of the lineup of the Philippine Team that will vie in the taekwondo competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian  (SEA) Games, which the country will be hosting from November 30 to December 11, 2019.

“Mao na akong goal for this year,” said Garces.

(That is my goal for this year.)

Should she make it to the team, it will be her first time to compete in the biennial meet since she advanced into the senior category in 2016.

So what does it take to make it to the team?

“Performing well in the upcoming games before SEA games then doing well in the upcoming evaluations,” Garces said. 

The lineup for the SEA Games, Garces said, might be known by August or September.

According to Garces, her selection would depend on her ranking during the evaluation of the national coaches. This means she needs to be consistent in the sparring events in upcoming international tournaments such as the Asia Open in Vietnam this August.

Garces, who started taekwondo when she was just six years old, somewhat bolstered her chances when she bagged a silver last July 9, 2019, in the Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships. She has already bagged three silver medals and a bronze in the five times that she’s been joining this competition. 

“[I’m] slightly disappointed because I was close to getting the gold medal but I still feel good about finishing with a silver because I have a good reason to push myself more in the upcoming games,” said Garces, who lost to a Korean jin in the championship match.

Garces has also joined other international events and in all, she’s brought home seven medals already. She clinched a gold in the ATU 2015 and ATF 2015 and a bronze in the Kimunyong Cup 2017. This year, she’s competed in the World Championships and the Wuxi Grand slam but she failed to bag a medal.

Should she make it to the SEA Games team, Nica said she will train in Korea for two weeks in October in preparation for the biennial meet. 

Nica is currently a member of the National University (NU) varsity team.  

She bagged a gold and was named Rookie of the Year in her first stint in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) last year.  She is the lone Cebuana in the NU team that was crowned champions. /bmjo