Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 26) — The Philippine men’s poomsae team successfully defended on Saturday its gold medal at the start of the 29th Southeast Asian Games taekwondo competition in Malaysia.
The trio of Dustin Jacob Mella, Raphael Enrico Mella and Rodolfo Reyes Jr. had a near-flawless execution, garnering a total of 8.40 points and beating five other rivals in an event that the nationals have been dominating since the 2013 Myanmar SEA Games.
Malaysia settled for the silver medal while Indonesia bagged the bronze.
Both Raphael and Dustin Mella were part of the team that won the gold in 2013 and 2015 SEA Games. Reyes, who also won the bronze in this men’s individual event, joined the team only this year.
“All the hard work and sacrifices paid off,” said Dustin, a 22-year-old Business Economics student from the University of the Philippines Diliman. “Lahat ng mga hirap namin sa training was worth it.”
[Translation: All our effort in training was worth it.]
“We trained almost half day daily plus workouts pa,” said Raphael, who was part of the team that won the bronze in the Korean Open in June. “Binigay lang namin ang best namin para sa bansa at naging patas naman ang mga judges.”
[Translation: We gave our best for the country and the judges were fair.]
Reyes was also overwhelmed with the victory, saying their four years together helped a lot.
The team will rest for a few days before preparing for the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games on Sept. 17 to 27 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
