Philippine TKD team has 5 Baguio City teenagers

By Paul Rillorta

BAGUIO CITY – It’s official, five promising Baguio teens will represent the country in the international arena.

After an impressive performance during the Taekwondo Qualifiers last February 18 and 19 held at the National Taekwondo Gym in Metro Manila, five Baguio jins were chosen to form part of the prestigious Philippine Juniors Taekwondo Team which will represent the country in International Championships this year.

The jins are all Gold medalists during the CARAA Meet and Smart National Taekwondo Championships.

They braved their way through a grueling 2-day sparring with fellow jins coming from the different parts of the archipelago and were eventually hand-picked to form part of the selected few to represent the country in international events. From among the selected are Keno Anthony Mendoza, Suzzane Glehn Caslangen and Brighty Rio Salazar of the University of Baguio(UB), Benjamin Daniel Sembrano of Baguio City National High School(BCNHS) and Colleen Heria of Saint Louis University Laboratory High School(SLU-LHS).

Mendoza, Sembrano, Caslangen and Salazar are presently training at the Defenders Taekwondo Gym under the watchful eyes of Coach Arnold Oglayon while Heria trains at the UFC Gym under Coach Melvin Morte.

They will fly to Egypt on April for the World Junior Taekwondo Championships and Vietnam on May for the Asian Taekwondo Championships.