BOTH TEAMS of Ateneo Taekwondo ended their respective campaigns at fifth place after the day 4 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 Taekwondo Championships on Friday, November 12 at the Blue Eagle Gym.  

The Blue Eagles concluded the season with a 2-4 slate on the backs of Paul Cham, rookie Harley Santos, and King Eagle Aaron Agojo, as they triumphed over Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws before falling to the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers.

Meanwhile, the lady jins equalized their tally at 3-3 after succumbing to the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs and the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons.

Blue Eagles

Elijah Buencamino began the last day for the Blue Eagles by picking up his first win of the season against FEU’s Nean de Leon. The second match was forfeited by FEU, awarding Santos the win. The squad breezed through the next three matches as powerhouses Aaron Agojo and Cham picked up 27-25 and 21-17 victories against Cuper Edera and Kristian Tagarao, respectively. Noy Garcia, who was 1-3 in the tourney, clinched a careful 8-4 win against Tamaraw Eric Barces.

After the Blue Eagles bagged five consecutive matches to secure the tie, FEU grabbed consolation wins as Rafael Cosca and Thirdy Garcia decisively fell in their matches 8-28 and 10-21, respectively. The Blue Jins would take the game 5-2 to improve to 2-3 in the standings before taking on DLSU later on in the day.

Their luck would run out, however, as they fell to the Green Archers, 3-4, in the team-tie. Buencamino was the first to succumb to an overwhelming DLSU offensive, taking a 2-24 loss to finish the tournament with a 1-5 win-loss record.

Santos again sparked a trail for Ateneo as he finished off his opponent, 16-4. The wins kept coming for the Blue Eagles as a forfeit from the green side gave Aaron Agojo a bittersweet last win of the season. After Cham tied his match 15-15, he landed hits to the torso to clinch a 2-0 win in the extra round and bring the team-tie to 3-1. However, the next jins to take the match were not as fortunate as Noy Garcia, Cosca, and Thirdy Garcia took 8-14, 9-32, and 9-29 losses, respectively.  

After the defeat to DLSU, the squad ended Season 81 with a 2-4 record, which included a statement win against eventual champions the National University Bulldogs, that placed them at fifth in the standings. There were bright spots for Ateneo as they took in three gold medals from Santos, Aaron Agojo, and Cham.

Cham, who finished 5-1 in the tournament, took the gold in the featherweight division while Santos clinched the flyweight gold as well as the Season 81 Rookie of the Year honor. “With the help of God, panalo,” said Santos. “I lost almost 10 kilos for this tournament. For two months, super strict sa diet and super strict sa training.”

Santos ended Season 81 with a spotless 6-0 record which included one forfeited match. A product of the juniors program, the young stalwart said that the hardest part about the transition was entering a team full of veterans. Nevertheless, the rookie will now be integral to this seasoned team’s future.

Speaking of seasoned veterans, the exclamation point to the Blue Eagles’ campaign was returning King Eagle Aaron Agojo. The former team captain concluded what he felt might have been his last season with an unblemished  6-0 streak including one forfeit for the bantamweight gold. “Mindset ko was to have a never-say-die attitude,” said Agojo about facing younger competition. “Ginawa ko lang best ko – one fight at a time.”

(My mindset was to have a never-say-die attitude. I just did my best, one fight at a time.)

However, the 2018 Asian Games participant lamented the team’s fifth place loss. “Sayang lang, sa Taekwondo kasi may mga contrapelo rin talaga,” he said.

(I guess it’s kind of a waste. I mean in Taekwondo, there are always low-points and spoilers).

Nevertheless, the veteran  had a lot to say about his team’s potential. “Yung team nagiimprove, nagpeperform not just in the UAAP. They’re getting medals sa different competitions. Sa training nakikita ko na passionate sila, determined sila manalo and hopefully next season magppodium sila,” he said.

(The team is improving and performing not just in the UAAP. They’re getting medals in different competitions. During training I see that they’re passionate and determined to win, and hopefully next season they get a podium finish.)

Lady Eagles

The Lady Eagles started the day’s Kyurogi action against the NU Lady Bulldogs. Alexa Rabino gifted Ateneo an early lead, showing gritty defensive technique to notch a close 13-12 win. Julienne Bermejo followed up with a loss in the second match, 19-31, to even the team-tie score.

Winslet Rosel stood tall in the third match, dominating in the second round to bag her first victory in the tournament, 11-3. Pauline Lopez built on the momentum by adding a win of her own in the succeeding match. Down 4-13 at one point, Lopez engineered a second round comeback to extend the match to a third period at 13-13. A quick series of kicks to the torso sealed the win for the veteran, 3-1.

Jennevive De Asis and Dan Morales registered two losses afterwards, ending at 8-19 and 4-8, respectively. Entering the last match with a victory on the line, Arianne Agojo trailed by 9 points in the second round before pulling off a startling comeback, tying the score up at 13-13 to extend the match. However, a rangy kick to Agojo’s torso ended it at 2-0. With that, Ateneo surrendered a two-match lead and the team-tie to NU, 4-3.

In their afternoon match, the lady jins rekindled their rivalry against their Katipunan neighbors for their last match of the season. Ateneo started slow as Rabino was defeated by 15 points, 13-28, while Bermejo surrendered her matchup in her first round 4-25. Rosel could not keep up with her UP counterpart’s agile footwork in the third match, 2-36, as Ateneo fell into a 0-3 hole in the team-tie.

The phenom, Pauline Lopez, started Ateneo’s comeback as she flexed her champion form and gave the lady jins their first win against UP with a 34-11 victory.  De Asis added another win Ateneo’s tally as she dominantly ended her first round, 13-3. She finished her match up with a combination of kicks and punches to her opponent’s body, giving Ateneo a team-tie score of 2-3.

UAAP Season 80 Rookie of the Year, Dan Morales, kept the match alive as she evened the team-tie score at 3-all with a landslide win of 28-7.  In another heartbreaker, Arianne Agojo was unable to close out the difficult comeback of Ateneo as she was defeated 6-20 which ended the season for the lady jins.

The lady jins ended their season with a team-tie score of 3-4 against UP. Rabino and Rosel walked away with two wins and four losses each.  Lopez had a flawless 6-0 season and de Asis finished with a 4-2 record, with two forfeits from FEU. Morales came out of her second UAAP season with 3-3 tally which included one forfeit from FEU while Arianne Agojo concluded her season 2-4 in which FEU surrendered one forfeit.

While the men’s team improved from their sixth place finish last season, the women’s team will be disappointed after dropping from their silver finish in Season 80.