Tall Fil-Am jin, 14, joins Asiad team

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) has tapped Fil-Am Pauline Louise Lopez as its entry in the women’s finweight division in place of Michelle Monterey in next month’s 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

Coach Rocky Samson said the 14-year-old Lopez was chosen due to her strong showing in international tournaments like the Korea Open Taekwondo Championships (gold in the foreign field and silver in local play) and the US Open Taekwondo Championships (silver).

“Although she’s still young, her personal coach in the US, former national mainstay Dean Vargas, attests that Pauline can already compete against the seniors in the US trials and US Open and even win medals there,” Samson told The STAR yesterday.

“She’s quite tall for a finweight at 5’4 and she’s a head-hunter, which is a good thing in taekwondo because a head kick is worth three points. At the same time, Pauline is already accustomed to the electronic body protector, which will be used in the Asian Games,” he added.

Lopez, daughter of former RP jin Jun Lopez, and Monterey, silver medalist in the Korea Open, were named candidates for the finweight category by the PTA following the sidelining of Olympian welterweight Toni Rivero due to ACL injury.

Monterey’s name was initially submitted to the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Guangzhou organizers for accreditation while Lopez worked to secure her Philippine passport.

Lopez got her RP passport recently, making her eligible to join the team to the Guangzhou Asiad.

Samson said the PTA has already submitted Lopez’s papers to the POC, which, in turn, has forwarded it to the Guangzhou organizers for accreditation early this week.

The California-based Lopez, according to Samson, will have bets from Iran, Korea, Chinese Taipei and host China for rivals in her division.

Lopez will join Jyra Lizardo (flyweight), Jade Zafra (bantamweight), Karla Alava (featherweight), Camille Manalo (lightweight) and Elaine Alora (middleweight) in the RP women’s team to Guangzhou.

John Paul Lizardo (finweight), Paul Romero (flyweight), Olympian Tshomlee Go (bantamweight), Jeffrey Figueroa (featherweight), Butch Morrison (lightweight) and Marlon Avenido (welterweight) make up the men’s crew.

“Our target is to really win at least one gold medal in the Asian Games,” said Samson, whose team previously captured two silver medals, courtesy of Go and Rivero and three bronzes, from Manuel Rivero, Eunice Alora and Veronica Domingo, in the Doha Asiad.

For this campaign, the team is leaning on the veteran Go, and 2010 Asian championship silver medalist Lizardo and Asian tilt bronze medalist Avenido, as well as upcoming Morrison, who beat world-class jins from Chinese Taipei and Korea in the last Korea Open.