ATENEO TAEKWONDO endured a rough day 2 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 Taekwondo Championships on Wednesday, November 7 at the Blue Eagle Gym in Quezon City.

The blue jins took a win from the National University (NU) Bulldogs, but later faltered at the hands of the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers, while the Lady Eagles lost their bouts to the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Archers and the UST Golden Tigresses.

Blue Eagles

Firing the opening salvo for the Blue and White against NU was Elijah Buencamino, who couldn’t close the 1-21 deficit at the end of the first round which led to the match’s closure at 1-22. Buencamino was avenged by rookie Harley Santos who stayed effective in the next match with a decisive 17-5 win.

Returning King Eagle Aaron Agojo gave Ateneo the lead in the tie, 2-1, after a close 15-14 victory. The fourth match saw Paul Cham land a punch in the fading seconds of his match for the 31-30 triumph. Noy Garcia then sealed the win against the Bulldogs with a come-from-behind effort, 20-18.

The next two matches came to be losses for Ateneo as Rafael Cosca and Thirdy Garcia fell to their Bulldog counterparts 5-28 and 2-21, respectively, but these were only consolations for NU as the Blue Eagles were off to a winning start.

Against the UE Red Warriors, Buencamino’s 8-30 loss in the first bout was redeemed when Santos put on an aggressive showing in the next match, landing key kicks from long range to take a commanding 32-7 victory.

Ateneo took a brief team-tie lead after the third match, with Agojo taking on another decisive win, 33-12. A loss for Cham in the fourth match sparked a run for UE, who went on to win the next three matches. Noy Garcia and Cosca were forced to concede their matches, 21-2 and 37-11, respectively.

Despite a spirited comeback by T. Garcia in the seventh match of the series, the Blue Eagle fell short in the second round, 10-15, as Ateneo walked away with a loss against UE, with the final team-tie score at 5-2.

“Medyo nagkaroon ng miscommunication with the players, so medyo nag-antay sila ng konti, medyo nagkampante,” remarked Head Coach Elmer Rafael about the match against UE.

(There was some miscommunication with the players so they stalled too much and were uncomfortable with the play.)

The Blue Eagles’ third team-tie kept the crowd in Blue Eagle Gym on its toes as each match had bearing on the team-tie result. Following Buencamino’s difficult 0-21 loss, Santos kept up the pace with a win, 18-2. The wins kept coming as Agojo found an opening in the final seconds to grant him a close 35-34 victory while Cham had put up yet another highlight as he managed a spinning kick to the head that awarded him four points for a 28-24 win.

Cham’s triumph was followed by a loss from Noy Garcia which cut Ateneo’s team-tie lead, 3-2. The onslaught continued as Cosca took a kick to the face, forcing the referee to end the match in favor of UST as the team-tie was a draw at 3-3.

In the seventh match, Thirdy Garcia and the rest of the Ateneo squad were dealt a heartbreaking loss as Thirdy Garcia was beaten to the finish line, 20-21, for a painful 3-4 defeat against the Growling Tigers.

Lady Eagles

In their season opener, the Lady Eagles traded matches with their rivals, the DLSU Lady Archers. Alex Rabino opened proceedings, dropping the 17-20 opener, which was followed by Julienne Bermejo’s reinvigorating 25-19 win that evened the tie, 1-1.

Winslet Rosel’s 9-20 loss was cancelled out by Pauline Lopez’ 13-8 win and a 16-8 victory by Marie de Asis tipped the scales in Ateneo’s favor, 3-2. It was eventually a 5-13 loss from Season 80 Rookie of the Year Dan Morales that kept Ateneo tied with DLSU at 3-3. In the deciding match, Arianne Agojo was simply outmatched, 3-16, as the Taft-based squad escaped with the win, 3-4.

The struggles continued for the Ateneo lady jins in their second team-tie of the day as they were unable to keep up with the ladies from España. The squad from Katipunan was defeated in the first three matches as Rabino, Bermejo, and Rosel took 7-9, 15-29, and 1-16 losses, respectively.

Lopez took to the mats and maintained her undefeated record in the season as she took her opponent down 12-1. The 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist’s win was the only consolation of the tie as Morales conceded her match, 14-22, while Arianne Agojo was unable to maintain her lead late in the second round as she was defeated 7-9.

With the blue jins’ and the lady jins’ win-loss record at 1-2 and 0-2, respectively, both teams will be looking to bounce back in day 3 of the tourney to be held on Thursday, November 8, at the same venue.

Note: Alexa Rabino finals core against UST was 7-9, not 4-1. The article has been edited accordingly. We deeply apologize for this oversight.