TONI RIVERO

The Philippines made a disastrous start at the World Taekwondo Championships after three jins fell by the wayside one after the other Wednesday night at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Two-time Olympian Toni Rivero absorbed a 3-1 loss from Lie Kylborn of Sweden in their welterweight division bout while Marlon Avenido was sent to the exit by Nikolaos Tzellos of Greece, 6-4, in the men’s division and middleweight Alex Briones was beaten by Vujar Majidov of Azerbaijan, 1-0.

Three more of the 12-man RP squad – flyweights Jyra Lizardo and Nicole Mapilisan and featherweight Karla Alava – will see action late Thursday.

Lizardo will face Alejandra Mena of Chile in the first round while Mapilisan goes up against Lkhagvadorj Dugree of Mongolia and Alava clashes with Taiwan’s Pei Cheng.

Also to see action later are finweight Japoy Lizardo, bantamweights Tshomlee Go and Kathleen Eunice Alora, featherweight Jeffrey Figueroa, lightweight Criselda Roxas, and middleweight Elaine Kirstie Alora.

A total of 935 athletes from 135 countries signed up for the championships, which drew 5,000 spectators on opening day.

The tournament is also using an electronic body armor for the first time to determine actual hits during the bout.