USC jins bag 4 golds, rule Milo Taekwondo

CEBU, Philippines – The University of San Carlos (USC) jins made their presence felt as they emerged as overall champion with four gold medals in the secondary division of the 15th Milo Little Olympics Regional Finals the other night at the Mabolo Sports Complex.

These golds will surely be of great contribution to USC's campaign for a possible surprising finish in the annual multi-sporting event, dominated by the University of Cebu for 14 years already.

Bryan Fernandez, Kayla Beldad and the Panaginip siblings, Charisse and Claire hauled the golds in their respective events.

The Panaginip sisters got the loudest applause during the awarding as they were successful in their aim to have golden finish in their respective categories.

Claire reigned supreme in the welterweight class after thrashing Janica Crezil Ybarra of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R).

The younger Panaginip, Charisse took the light weight division title after beating Kimberly Rose Beduya of Beatriz Durano Memorial National High School .

"We really prepared for this tournament because we wanted to win and end this tournament with a gold medal. Constant practice and the determination, led us in fulfilling our goal to win," said the older Panaginip.

"We hope that we could sustain or even improve our performance in the national finals. We will strive hard to bring back pride and honor for Cebu ," said Charisse.

Fernandez fended off Gabriel Damsco of the University of the Visayas (UV)- Main to dominate the bantamweight category.

In the distaff side, Beldad outclassed Cheyl Ramirez of Abellana National School (ANS) in the heavyweight division.

The USC elementary jins, on the other hand, ended as second placers via Klent Auxil Tan and Emmanuel Kangleon, who bagged the golds.

Tan defeated Stacey Rose Auxtero in the category 3 while Kangleon had an easy victory in category 5 via default. (THE FREEMAN)