Alora leads SEAG-bound Benilde athletes feted
Photo shows St Benilde’s athletes/scholars (from left) John Vic de Guzman (volleyball), Ryan Jacolo (table tennis), Valentino Calco (football), Bro. Dennis Magbanua FSC (DLS-CSB president), Kirstie Elaine Alora (taekwondo and flagbearer), Maria Arese Lipat (swimming), Sendrina Andrea Balatbat (table tennis), Anfernee Lopena (track and field) and Jose Paolo Serrano (water polo).
MANILA, Philippines - Kirstie Elaine Alora, the lone Philippine representative in the taekwondo competitions of the 2016 Rio Olympics, is eyeing her fourth gold medal in the SEA Games this month.
Once again, standing in front of the 27-year-old Alora is Cambodia’s Sorn Seavmey, who had dealt the Pinay jin bitter defeats in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the 2016 Asian Championships in Manila.
Alora will carry the Philippine flag in the SEA Games opener in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 19, also hoping to carry bigger chances in her projected duel with the Cambodian, ranked first in the -70 kg class in this SEA Games.
“I hope I meet her in the finals. She’s ranked number one and I’m ranked number two,” said Alora recently as she joined a handful other students of the College of St. Benilde, past and present, who will represent the country in Kuala Lumpur.
Alora, also a two-time bronze medalist in the Asian Games, graduated from St. Benilde in 2012.
In Kuala Lumpur, she will be joined by fellow CSB students John Vic de Guzman of volleyball, Maria “Misay” Lipat of swimming, Anfernee Lopena of track and field, Valentino Calvo of men’s soccer, and Ryan Jacolo and Sendrina Balatbat of table tennis.
They were presented to the media yesterdayon the CSB campus along Taft Avenue.
Joining the SEAG bets and St. Benilde athletes was former taekwondo jin and 1992 Barcelona Olympian Stephen Fernandez, who now heads the St. Benilde Center for Sports Development.
Of the seven, only Alora and Balatbat have finished their studies at CSB.
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