BANGKOK (UPDATED) – Filipino taekwondo jins give the country its first silver medal on Wednesday in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
The trio of Rodolfo Reyes Jr., King Nash Alcairo, and Ian Corton captured silver in the men's recognized poomsae event held at the Fashion Island Shopping Mall in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Philippines beat Singapore and Thailand to reach the final against Singapore.
The trio put up a solid performance, but eventually bowed to Indonesia in the finals.
The Filipino taekwondo jins got a score of 8.530 points, close to Indonesia's 8.710.
"Sobrang nakaka-proud nagbigay kami ng medalya for Team Philippines lalo na silver. Pero of course, sana yun yung second gold. But alam po namin sa sarili namin binigay namin best namin and I'm proud of that," Corton said.
Reyes said he is satisfied that they performed well and they finished the routine safely.
"Hindi man para sa amin, at least no regrets. Literal na yun na yun, literal na todo na. Pinaka namin yung lakas ng Pinoy," he said.
Upon the announcement of the result, the three were in tears, being consoled by national team head coach Rani Ortega.
"Una pong pumasok sa isip ko yung pinaghirapan po namin sa training simula Korea training kaming tatlo po," Corton said.
"Naging emotional kami kasi for me malapit na kami, pero kinapos pa. Pero for me blessing parin siya," Alcairo.
The taekwondo jins said they are motivated to do better in future tournaments.
TWO BRONZES FOR POOMSAE
After winning gold earlier in the day, Kobe Macario competed in the mixed freestyle poomsae team event with Darius Venerable, Jeus Gabriel Derick Yape, Juvenile Faye Crisostomo and Janna Dominique Oliva.
They got 7.580 points behind eventual gold medalist Vietnam that scored 8.060 points and silver medalist Myanmar 7.940 points.
Macario previously won bronze in the same event in the 2023 SEA Games, alongside Crisostomo, Venerable and current coach Jeordan Dominguez.
Earlier, taekwondo jins Patrick King Perez and Jocel Lyn Ninobla clinched bronze in the mixed pair recognized poomsae event to add the country's medal haul.
The duo reached the semifinals where they lost to Singapore.
Perez and Ninobla scored 8.520 points, while the gold medalists got 8.620 points.