Veronica Garces (right) in action during the 7th MILO National Little Olympic in Laguna last year. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
Cebuana jin Nica Garces has once again delivered after she snatched a silver medal in the Gyeongju Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships yesterday in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Garces put up a dominant performance in the early rounds before falling short against her opponent from Chinese Taipei, 5-7, in the gold medal match of the juniors bantamweight division.
“Ni-pay off gyud iyang effort,” Nica’s former coach at the University of Cebu (UC) Michael Realista also said in a phone interview. “We already expected nga maka daog gyud siya og medal ana nga tournament.”
Garces started the day with a dominant performance after she defeated her opponent from South Korea in her first match, 13-1. She followed up that win with yet another strong showing when she blanked her opponent from Hong Kong in the quarterfinals, 12-0.
Garces, who now suits up for the National University Bulldogs, clinched a championship berth when she routed another player from South Korea in the semifinals, 12-2.
Though she failed to win gold, it was still a resounding campaign for Garces, who duplicated her silver medal finish last year.
“We’re so proud of her. Her pride was still intact as she gave her best during the fight,” Nica’s father, Eric Sr., told Cebu Daily News.
As of this writing, Garces remained the only player from the Philippine National Team to advance to the final round in the annual tournament participated in by elite taekwondo players around the world.
Meanwhile, Garces’ former teammates at UC, Dineson Cañeda and Sal Luigi Estrada, failed in their campaign to bring home gold medals.
Estrada, who marked her debut in the seniors divisions yesterday, bowed out early in the featherweight division.
Estrada was a bronze medalist in the juniors division last year.
Cañeda, on the other hand, bowed to a South Korean in the quarterfinals the other day, 13-14.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
