UST, La Salle bag UAAP taekwondo crowns

MANILA, Philippines – UST captured a record 12th championship in women’s taekwondo, while De La Salle snapped UST’s domination in the men’s division of UAAP Season 76 on Wednesday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Middle heavyweight Jane Narra capped UST’s title run with an 8-2 victory over Cyrmyr Perlas in the deciding bout as the Tigresses halted De La Salle’s short reign in the event with Nicole Cham (bantamweight) bagging the other gold medal for the new champions.

University of the Philippines (UP), led by Gen Castillo’s welterweight gold medal, was second, followed by De La Salle, which pinned on the strong performances of Archers' Alyssa Bonifacio (finweight), Jyra Lizardo (lightweight) and Leigh Ann Naguid (flyweight).

Far Eastern University (FEU) was fourth in the women’s contest, followed by Ateneo, National University (NU) and University of the East (UE).

De La Salle copped its eighth title in the men’s division, highlighting its successful Season 76 campaign with middle heavyweight Kristopher Robert Uy's decisive 14-5 win over Jeicco Lozano in the final bout. The Green Archers swept the six-game eliminations to emerge champions.

The Tigers, the winningest men's squad with 11, wound up second with a 5-1 slate, while the Fighting Maroons achieved another podium finish by finishing with four wins in six matches.

Bantam Kevin Sia of the Green Archers took the men's MVP honors, while Cham hoisted the individual trophy in the women’s division.                  

Gold medalists in the men's division are La Salle's Uy, Sia, Paolo Jasmines (finweight) and Keith Sembrano (lightweight), UST's Joaquin Mendoza (featherweight) and Christian Al dela Cruz (welterweight) and Ateneo's Aaron Agojo (flyweight).