Cebu's Sia bags 3 golds in Palanca tikefest

CEBU, Philippines - Bemedalled Cebuana jin Shaneen Sia hauled three gold medals in the Carlos Palanca Jr. (CPJ) National Taekwondo Championships over the weekend at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Vito Cruz, Manila.

The 16-year old Sia bested 23 other contenders from all over the country to dominated the individual poomsae under the juniors division. She got her two other golds in the pair and team events.

“I'm so blessed with all the achievements I received this year. The three golds that I got during the CPJ tournament were products of training and hardwork. These even inspired and encouraged me to strive harded and improve my performance in future competitions,” said Sia.

Playing coach Glenn Lava, on the other hand, couyld only manage a silver in the individual pomsae seniors class.

“I'm very happy because I was able to get even with the player from Baguio who edged me out last year. I thought at first that he will be this year's champion but fortunately I was able to overpower him. I got the chance to win the gold but maybe the title is not really for me this year,” said Lava.

The third Cebuano entry in Iyan Lim only settled for fifth place in the individual poomsae boys division.

“We only played for poomsae and we don't have entries for sparring because the kids are playing for the CVIRAA,” said Lava.

Originally, close to 20 players qualified for the nationals but only three were able to make it because the rest are seeing action in the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet, which opened the other day in Danao City. - THE FREEMAN