NINE young karatekas from Cebu bagged three golds, three silvers and six bronze medals in the 1st Shureido Cup held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia last Aug. 16 to 18.
The nine medalists were composed mostly of members from the Sports Karatedo Organization (SKO) Pilipinas of Mandaue City and the Association for the Upliftment of Karatedo (AUK) of Talisay City.
Leading the gold haul were karatekas from SKO namely Janine Narboada, Alexis Carmeli Patalinghug and Alexis Nicole Villacarlos.
Narboada secured a gold medal in the girls’ Under-14 kata (form) event and also won a silver medal in the Under-14 girls’ kumite (sparring) -42kgs class.
Patalinghug and Villacarlos were able to haul gold medals in the girls’ 12-Under kumite in the -35kgs category and -40kgs category, respectively.
Fellow SKO member John Rans Mahinay was able to grab the silver medal in the boys’ kumite -52kgs.
Rus Josua Macaya of AUK became the first from his team to secure a silver medal in the boys’ kumite -57kgs category.
Garnering bronze medals each were Jhudiel Oliver of SKO Pilipinas, AJ Ala Villamor and Giovanni Ephraim Apuya of AUK.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Laurence Nopre of AUK garnered two bronze medals in the men’s kata Under-21 and men’s kumite Under-21 -67kgs class.
Jess Paredes, SKO-Pilipinas’ chief instructor, told SunStar Cebu he was impressed by his team’s performance especially that it was the team’s first international event.
“They were a bit scared at first. But I told them to just enjoy and show their best,” Paredes said in Cebuano. (JKV)