Igorot jin takes Ph’s 1st medal in World Taekwondo Poomsae

By Pigeon M. Lobien

BAUKO, Mountain Province --- A native of this town won the bronze medal, the Philippines’ first medal, in the World first Taekwondo Poomsae Grand Prix in Rome, Italy on June 8.

Jordan Dominguez made history when he scored 7.52 points to win the medal.

Fifth seed Dominguez scored 4.5 and 3.02 that was good for third place behind world number 2 Lin Yu Han of Taiwan who had 7.88 points for the gold medal and third seed Dhin Khul Nguyen of Vietnam who had 7.7 points to settle for second place.

“This is the first ever medal ng Philippines sa (of the Philippines in the) World Grand Prix,” Dominguez said via Facebook messager.

In his Facebook page, Dominguez thanked the Philippine Taekwondo Association and its president Grandmaster Sung Chon Hong for giving him the opportunity to compete in the inaugural poomsae competition of the World Grand Prix.

Dominguez, who hails from Otucan, Bauko but resides in Baguio, also thanked all the people, his fellow players, who pushed him do his best despite “sleepless nights, pains and aches” that resulted to the Philippines’ first medal in the World Grand Prix.

However, compatriot Janna Dominique Oliva managed 6.54 points to finish fifth in the women’s side won by Korean Jiyoung Lee who came in with 7.7 points. American Adalis Munoz ((7.52) and Mexican Zulema Ibanez Ramirez (7.46) took the second and third place medals, respectively.

Dominguez hopes to bring his luck to the next competition in the pair along with Oliva. “I still have one more competition today and that is in the pair,” Dominguez said.

The mixed competition of four players will be Sunday, June 9, to be followed by the awarding ceremony.

Dominguez will be back home this coming week to also attend the launching of the Portrait: Heroes & Legends, where one of the art works will be his portrait as one of the new sports heroes.

The Rome Grand Prix included for the first time poomsae, the form component of the Korean martial arts, said World Taekwondo Federation president Chungwon Choue in his invitation to all national federations including the Philippines where Dominguez qualified.

Only the world’s top eight players were invited to the tournament in the “Eternal City” of which he is the fifth ranked.

“(Only those) ranked 1 to 8 ng world ang mag lalaban-laban and I’m so lucky po na na-invite ako (at) nasa rank 5 po ako ngayon, (Only those ranked 1 to 8 of the world will be competing and I’m lucky to be invited since I’m currently ranked 5,” said Dominguez in his Facebook message to PNA .

“But I (‘ll) try my best in tomorrow’s start of the competition,” said Dominguez, who won a bronze in the team poomsae of the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. -- PNA