BEIJING: The Philippines’ Mari Antoinette Rivero and Tshomlee Go waved to volunteers manning the gates at the Village a few moments after coming out of the service bus, both wearing the look of a medal contender in the 29th Olympic Games tae kwon do competitions.
An hour ago, the two Filipino jins had their first afternoon workout alongside some of the competitors at a university in the outskirts of this booming capital, and it seemed they can go to the fray even today, tomorrow or the next day.
In other words, they’re ready.
“We’ve remained focused and we’re hopeful. We’re ready to go out there and play the game,” said Rivero, in practice suits wet from sweat after their initial workout since arriving the other day from Manila in the company of their coaches.
They went to the usual practice routines under coaches Kim Hok Sik and Raul Samson, who both nodded their heads in approval when asked if the workout turned out well.
“Okay yung ensayo namin kaninang hapon. We saw some of the guys we’re going to fight. Everything turned out well,” said Samson, the long-time Filipino handler of Go and Rivero.
In the morning, both Go and Rivero also did a light workout inside the Athletes Village.
According to the coaches, they will train for about an hour every day up to the eve of the competitions in this combat sport, which South Korea gave to the world.
The 26-year-old Go, making his second Olympic appearance like Rivero, will be the first to take the floor as he opens his bid on August 20 in the preliminaries of the men’s 57-kilogram at the University of Science and Technology Beijing.
The next day, a Thursday, it’s the turn of Rivero to play in the 57-kg division, the same class where she competed as a young lady of 16 in Athens, Greece four years ago.
Drawing of lots will be held starting at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the USTB gymnasium, an old school west of the capital city and one of several venues renovated for the Summer Games.
Pinoy tae kwon do bets optimistic in medal bids
Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 5:35 AM | Labels: Sports NewsELEMENTARY and high school athletes show their wares in the Metro Manila leg of the 2008 Milo Little Olympics which unfolds on August 23 at the Marikina Sports Park.
After the opening day, games will be played on August 24 and August 30 to 31.
Competitions are in athletics, badminton, chess, football, gymnastics, lawn tennis, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, tae kwon do and volleyball.
The Visayas leg will be on September 5 to 7 and September 13 to 14 at the Cebu Sports Center to be followed by the Luzon leg on September 12 to 14 at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in Pangasinan. The Mindanao leg is scheduled on November 14 to 16 at the Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center in Cagayan de Oro City.
The Milo Little Olympics, now on its 21st season, hopes to discover future national athletes.
Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Jose "Amang" Parica hurdled separate rivals to remain undefeated in the 2008 Turning Stone Classic XI 9-Ball tournament yesterday at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York.
The West Covina, California-based Parica clobbered in succession former world 9-ball champion Finnish Mika Immonen, 9-2, and American Tom Mcgonagle, 9-1 to stay unscathed.
Parica will next face reigning US Open 9-ball champion American Shane Van Boening, who crushed Bucky Souvanthong, 9-5, Steve Lillis, 9-0, and Ed Abraham, 9-5.
The winner in the Parica-Van Boening tiff will meet the survivor in the Charlie Williams-Dave Fernandez tussle.
For his part Bustamante, scored convincing wins over Luis Rios (9-4), Ernesto Dominguez (9-5) and Michael Wong (9-3).
Bustamante, the former world No.1 goes up against Chris Szuter in the next round.
Another Filipino bet, however, was not as lucky as Parica and Bustamante.
Mhet Vergarra bowed to Ivaylo Petrov, 5-9, in the opener of this double-round elimination tournament that offers a total pot prize of $ 25,000.
Upsets also rocked the tourney as Corey Deuel, the newly-installed Million Dollar 9-ball Shoot-Out Champion bowed to Julie Kelly, 8-9, in the opener while two-time world pool champion Johnny Archer yielded to Hatch, 9-6, in the third round.
BEIJING – Five Filipinos here have taken the word "volunteer" to the extreme.
This we found out when we bumped into Ellen Jane Chua at the Water Cube swimming stadium, officially known as the National Aquatics Center, where she and four Filipinos have been working as volunteers.
Ellen, or EJ, as she prefers to be called, said she and her group applied online when Beijing Games organizers issued a call for overseas volunteers last December.
After several online interviews, she was finally accepted along with five others from among several hundred applicants.
She and her group arrived Aug. 1 and were given instructions on what to do once the games begin. Her task includes giving out printed results of swimming and diving events to so-called members of the Olympic family. These are top officials of various national Olympic committees around the world who occupy choice seats at various sporting arenas.
The other Filipino volunteers are Mark Jefferson Lao, Natalie Sia, Bea Ang and Eric Jansen Cleto.
Work, she said, begins at about 7 a.m. at which time they should be at the Water Cube, and ends at 11 p.m.
"Nakakapagod," EJ said. "But I have no complaints."
Meeting other volunteers from other parts of the world has been exciting, she said, and they keep on asking about the Philippines and our culture, "so I share them."
But here’s a little catch.
Volunteers must be able to speak Chinese, and she and her group are more than capable of that, having Chinese parents. In fact, EJ lives in Binondo.
But the biggest surprise, we learned, is that they must pay for their airfare and even for their accommodation while here in Beijing. Food is free, "but only if you work during the day."
The only thing they got free was the uniforms. It consisted of 3 shirts, 2 pants, 1 windbreaker, a pair of adidas rubber shoes, 3 socks, 1 cap, 1 beltbag, 1 water bottle and 1 raincoat.
"Talagang volunteer kami," she said.
But despite the personal expenses involved, EJ said she would not exchange her experience here for anything.
It’s priceless, she said.
BEIJING — The country’s Wushu athletes are getting ready for their exhibition matches which begin on Aug. 21.
"We’re all set," said Wushu Federation of the Philippines Julian Camacho yesterday whose athletes trained in Beijing three months ago and have not left since that time. They will only go home after their exhibition.
Wushu may yet emerge as the only Philippine team to win an Olympic medal based on the credentials of some of its athletes.
There are four of them and at least one, Willy Wang, can win a medal, even a gold.
Unfortunately, if he does, this will not count towards an official Olympic achievement because of the status of the sport as an exhibition event.
Despite this, Camacho said his athletes had been promised monetary reward by no less than President Arroyo when she visited the RP quarters at the Olympic Village last Sunday.
"But we are not thinking of the reward," Camacho said. "We are thinking of how we can do well and give our country a bit of an honor."
He said that if they are rewarded for it, they’d be thankful.
"If not, it’s OK with us."
BEIJING — The country’s top taekwondo official said Saturday that the so-called luck of the draw would not matter much in the coming competitions.
"Our two athletes are willing and ready to face anyone, top favorite or not, in the first round," said taekwondo association president Robert Aventajado in a phone call to newsmen.
He explained that even if you succeeded in avoiding meeting the favorites early, sooner or later you’re still going to face them.
"So it doesn’t really matter," he said. "Buti nga mas maaga mas magaling para mag-kaalaman na."
Because taekwondo competitions do not start until Aug. 20, jins Tonette Rivero and Tshomlee Go arrived only last Friday and did not join the big wave of Filipino athletes who flew in last Aug. 5.
The two immediately plunged into their training routine Saturday morning, doing warm up kicks and other exercises. In the afternoon, they will go to the tournament venue at the Beijing Science and Technology University.
Go will see action first in the 58kg division on Aug. 20, and Rivero will compete on Aug. 22. The draw will be made on Monday.
Both are one-day events, preliminaries and then moving on till the gold medal winner is chosen.
Aventajado is confident his players will be fit and ready for the competition.
I’m sure they will rise to the occasion," he said. "They know the load they are carrying."
It’s a heavy load, to be sure.
The two are hoping to win the country’s first medal after two fruitless campaigns in Sydney and Athens.
Adding to the pressure is the defeat of boxer Harry Tañamor, a medal hope, who lost his opening bout last Wednesday.
Without Tañamor, they are now in the forefront of the country’s bid to end the medal drought.
Rivero appears to be have the better chance than Go.
She nearly won a medal in Athens but was beaten by a Greek and then by the South Korean favorite.
Both her tormentors are back in Beijing. So, for Rivero, this is also a chance at redemption and revenge.
"She is more confident and unafraid of anyone," said Aventajado.
"Hindi sya takot sa Greek (Eli Mystakidou) and hindi na sya takot sa Korean (Hwang Kyoung Sun).
Tonette is specially prepared for the Korean," Aventajado said.
On the other hand, Aventajado said Go will just have to be careful against Taiwan’s Chu Mu-yen, gold medal winner of the Athens Olympics.
