Cebuana Calamba tops individual freestyle at Worlds anew

Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) 2013 Athlete of the Year Mikaela Calamba put up another sterling performance in the World Tae Kwon Do Federation Poomsae Championships as she helped the Philippine National Poomsae team finish third overall in the 8th edition of the prestigious tournament in Bali, Indonesia yesterday.

Calamba, also named Player of the Year for taekwondo during this year’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Annual Awards, bagged two gold medals to steer the Philippines to third place behind Korea and the USA.

The Philippines finished with two gold medals and two silvers in the event that gathered a total of 694 fighters coming from 51 different countries.

Calamba, the winner of last year’s Individual Freestyle event in Tunja, Colombia, defended her title in the same event this year for her first gold. She was also part of the squad that won the Team Female-17 crown. With her in the team were Rinna Babanto, also from Cebu, and Jocel Ley Ninobla.

The Republic of Korea topped the medal tally as it took home five golds and four silver medals followed by the USA, which won two golds, one silver and one bronze. Completing the top five nations are Spain (2-0-2) at fourth and Iran (1-3-4) at fifth.

Also in the Philippine team was Cebuano Glenn Lava and Jean Pierre Sabido, who gave the Philippines its first medal in the tournament the other day after the 2010 Uzbekistan edition gold medal-winning team member wound up second in the men’s freestyle event.

Canadian Charlie Chong topped the event while Oleksandr Lemelianenko of Ukraine and Po Kai Chen of Taiwan settled for bronze each.

Calamba fell short in the mixed-pair Under-17 with partner Raphael Enrico Mella as they landed fifth behind gold medalists Pongporn Suvittayarak and Katesara Kiatatchawachai of Thailand, silver winners Koorosh Bakhtiyar and Marjan Salahshouri of Iran, bronze medalists Juan Jesus Fuentes Zuazua and Daniela Morales of Mexico, and Irsyad Aziz and Muttiara Habiba of Indonesia.

Another Pinoy, June Ninobla, placed fifth in the Men’s Individual Under 49kg.