THE BLUE and Lady Jins opened their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) taekwondo competition at the FilOil Flying V Arena at San Juan on September 9 and 11.
The Blue Jins stand at 1-3 after defeating the University of the Philippines (UP) but losing to De La Salle University (DLSU), National University (NU) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Concurrently, the Lady Jins also stand at 1-3 after defeating UST but losing to UP, DLSU and the Far Eastern University (FEU).
Blue Jins
The Blue Jins opened their day one morning session with a rough fight against the defending champions DLSU. They lost with a score of 2-5.
After conceding four straight matches, Team Captain Joel Alejandro capitalized a win against DLSU in the sudden death round.
Alejandro was leading all the way when DLSU managed to get a clutch point to tie the game at 9-9. During the sudden death round, however, Alejandro outplayed his opponent and got the first point, thereby giving him the victory.
The last player, Jeff Ong, also gave the Blue Jins another win after DLSU decided to forfeit their final match.
During the afternoon session of the first day, the Blue Jins rallied with a massive 5-3 win against UP, led by Radley Dizon, Aydin Cortez, Marc Frigillana, Joel Alejandro and Jeff Alejandro.
Later on, however, despite the efforts of Cortez and Frigillana, the Blue Jins conceded a 2-5 loss to NU.
It was another tough effort for the Blue Jins during day two as they lost to UST in 0-7.
Cortez showed signs of hope in his match as he pulled off a major comeback against UST. In what seemed to be an impossible feat, Cortez rallied from a five-point deficit to tie the game in a matter of seconds and bring the game to sudden death. Sadly, Cortez lost as UST scored first and sealed the win for the Tigers.
Lady Jins
It was a rough morning session for the Lady Jins as they lost to UP with the score of 0-7.
Team Captain Kyla Relucio nearly won her match against the Lady Maroons with her aggressiveness in display. UP, however, climbed back and managed to tie the score at 15-all after the clock ran out. Relucio showed signs of dominance during the sudden death round, but the opposing Katipunan-based squad suddenly nailed a point to win the match.
During the afternoon session, the Lady Jins bounced back with a 4-3 thriller against the defending champions UST. Relucio, Weedee Valenzuela, Frances Siapno and rookie Thea Bermejo led the win for Ateneo.
The morning session of the second day kicked off roughly as the Lady Jins lost to DLSU in a score of 1-6. Bermejo pulled off the only win of the morning session against DLSU.
The afternoon session of day two did not go as well either as the Lady Jins lost to UST in a sweep, 0-7.
Bermejo, the younger sister of former Blue Jins member Red Bermejo and the 2014 Finweight World Junior Tae Kwon Do Championships silver medalist, is in a good position to nab the rookie of the year award if she continues her dominant performance.
The Blue and Lady Jins will not go down without a fight this UAAP season. The competition has only started and both teams are still in good positions to bounce back and win for the Blue and White.
Catch the Blue and Lady Jins fight for the elusive championship at the FilOil Flying V Arena from 9 AM onwards on September 16 and 18.
