Datu to vie in World para-taekwondo

MANILA, Philippines - Gerard Datu, a former Don Bosco Makati jin, will leave today to represent the SMART national team in the fifth World Para-Taekwondo Championships on June 21-22 in Moscow, Russia.

It will be the second time in five years that Datu will see action in the prestigious taekwondo paralympic event.  He bagged a bronze medal when he competed in the first Para-Taekwondo event in 2009 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Datu, now a taekwondo instructor at Fulbright Science School, is hopeful of winning another medal in the prestigious competition organized by the World Taekwondo Federation.

The Para-Taekwondo tilt features male and female athletes under and over 30 years old who will vie for honors in kyorugi (sparring) and poomsae (forms).

According to the Philippine Taekwondo Association, Datu’s participation is supported by MVP Sports Foundation, SMART Communications Inc., PLDT, TV5 and the Philippine Sports Commission.

The SMART national team is a regular participant in various international championships.  Only recently, SMART’s national taekwondo bets competed in the Asian championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Filipinos won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals in poomsae and one silver and one bronze in kyorugi.