COMBINING smarts and strength, National University overwhelmed University of the East, 35-10, Sunday to capture its first junior men’s division championship in the MVPSF-Meralco Philippine Taekwondo League at the SM City Sucat Mall in Parañaque.
Under the tried and tested tutelage of coach Jeff Figueroa, the NU jins swept all of their three matches in lopsided fashion, capped by their finals’ rout of the defending champions in ruling the competition supported by the MVP Sports Foundation and Meralco.
La Salle Greenhills turned back Far Eastern University-FERN, 53-35, to take the bronze medal in the event organized by the Philippine Taekwondo Association and also backed by the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission.
Aside from the championship trophy and medals, the members of the NU squad were also given a Myphone each as part of their prizes.
“We studied all of our rivals thoroughly and studied their weaknesses. It was not much about our strength and stamina but more of our mental toughness and strategy,” noted Figuerora, who used to be the UE coach before taking over the NU squad this season.
“Medyo alam ko rin ang mga players ng UE kaya yon na rin ang ginamit ko upang matalo namin sila,” added the mentor, who stretched his winning run to four straight PTL men’s junior titles after steering the UE bets to three consecutive crowns from 2013 to 2015.
UE head coach Joenell Rendora, who was Figueroa’s assistant, cited the graduation of most of his veterans from last year’s champion squad as the major reason why they could not match their NU rivals.
“Marami pong nag-graduate sa amin. At magaling po talaga si coach Jeff,” Rendora said, “and I pray that I can also be as good as him and win a championship for my UE team someday.”