Eleven international tournaments are already calendared for the national taekwondo team in preparation for the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar this December.
This was finalized over the weekend during the Philippine Taekwondo Association’s general meeting held at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
However, a final selection for the RP roster is yet to be finalized first on Feb. 12 to give room for aspiring jins and at the same time, to test the consistency of the national crew who competed in last month’s Southeast Asian Games.
Budget for the proposed international stints will have to be discussed over the next few weeks.
The RP team’s first foreign stint this year will be the Asian Taekwondo Championships on Apr. 21-23 in Bangkok, Thailand to improve their one-silver, three-bronze haul in the 2002 edition held in Amman, Jordan.
After Thailand, the team will compete in the World University Championships in Valencia, Spain on May 16-20 before the ASEAN Taekwondo Championships on June 8-10 and the World Junior Taekwondo Championships on July 26-30, both in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
In September, the crew will compete in the World Poomse Championships and the Korean Open KTA Championships in Korea before striving to make an impact in the World Cup Taekwondo Championships on Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Bangkok.
The World Hanmadang in Korea and the US PTA Open Championships in Los Angeles, California will be the last two stops for the RP team before taking part in the Asian Games.
Aside from the foreign exposures, the PTA also plans to send the RP crew either in Korea or China by the middle of the year for more a intensive training.
Led by Olympians Marie Antoinette Rivero, Tshomlee Go and Donald Geisler, the national crew harvested six golds, five silvers and a bronze in the 2005 SEA Games. —Kristel SATUMBAGA
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