Toni mentally tough to go all out

Take it from four-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games taekwondo gold medalist Nelia Sy-Ycasas who predicted Toni Rivero will fight like a tiger in her campaign for an Olympic medal in the -67 kilogram welterweight division at the University of Science and Technology gym in Beijing this morning.

Ycasas, now a coach, has witnessed Rivero blossom from a five-year-old novice to a two-time Olympian. Now at 20, Rivero is the country’s last hope for a medal in the Summer Games. She takes on Croatian nemesis Sandra Saric in her first assignment at 10 a.m. If Rivero survives, she will likely go up next against two-time world champion and 2004 Athens Olympic bronze medalist Hwang Kyung Seon of South Korea. It will take four straight wins for a gold and three, for a silver.

“My advice to Toni is to give it her all and go for the kill,” said Ycasas who accompanied the jin at the world qualifying tournament in Manchester last year. “She has a big fighting heart. I know Toni will make every Filipino proud. She has sacrificed a lot and dedicated her life to taekwondo. This is what she has prepared long and hard for.”

Ycasas said even when she was a tyke, Rivero already showed a winning attitude.

“I remember over 10 years ago, Toni was already a winner,” she continued. “People gathered to watch her fight although she was just a little girl. She’s very brave and aggressive. She never retreats. Toni used to always fight Nikki Uy of Batangas for the championship when they were in grade school before a big crowd. Everyone knew Toni to be an exciting fighter. We all knew she was going to go far in taekwondo.”

Ycasas said the day before Rivero left Manila for Beijing last Friday, she wished her good luck at the badminton hall in the Rizal Memorial complex.

“Tshomlee (Go) and Toni dropped by after their practice and all the PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) athletes, coaches and employees gave them a warm send-off,” she said. “I know win or lose, she’ll give her best. This is her chance. Just to qualify for the Olympics is an achievement. I told her to give it all she’s got. No holding back because this is it, the moment she’s been waiting for.”

Ycasas said being the last Filipino athlete standing is added pressure on Rivero.

“It’s not easy to be in Toni’s shoes,” said Ycasas. “No country will send a losing athlete to the Olympics. You don’t sacrifice and lose kilos of weight just to show up, stand on the mat and lose without a fight. People don’t know what it’s like to be out there competing. But Toni’s a pressure fighter. She’s more than 100 percent ready. Women tend to be less aggressive than men in taekwondo and fight with a little more caution. That’s where Toni has an advantage because she’s a real warrior.”

Ycasas said she expects Rivero to size up her opponent in the first 10 to 15 seconds before unleashing her attack.

“In the first match, a fighter usually studies her opponent in the opening seconds, faking, baiting and finding out what is the strong leg, the kicking leg, how to counter. You just don’t come out kicking. It’s important to be aggressive but Toni should always be on her guard. She lost to Saric in sudden death last year so she knows her style.”

Ycasas said she hopes judging will be fair in Rivero’s bout.

“The scoring is subjective,” she added. “In the Olympic matches I’ve watched on TV, I don’t understand why clear shots are not being scored. It’s like the judges are just choosing who will win. What a bad trip if you kick clearly and you don’t score. You prepare so hard only to be frustrated.”

In taekwondo, five referees or officials are assigned for each bout. The chief referee is on the mat with the protagonists and the four others are situated in the four corners. Three of the four officials in the corners must press a button corresponding to a fighter on a console box within a second to register a scoring point. The chief referee does not score but has the authority to declare a winner in a standoff and penalize a fighter by deducting points for infractions or violations.

Ycasas said she hopes the country’s Korean coach Kim Hong Sik will stay to train Filipino jins after the Olympics, no matter what happens.

“Look at Thailand’s case,” she said. “They hired a Korean coach in 2000. Now, eight years later, they’re reaping the benefits. Thailand has so far sent two fighters to the semifinals and one got a silver. We brought in Kim only last March. It’s difficult to expect him to produce an Olympic medal in a just a few months. We should be patient with our foreign coaches and agree on a realistic target depending on our program.”

Even with Kim on board, Ycasas said national coaches Roberto (Kitoy) Cruz for men and Raul (Rocky) Samson for women will continue to play a vital role in developing elite jins.

“Kitoy is well-respected all over the world,” she said. “Europeans would video his fights when he was actively competing to learn from his technique. Kitoy has scouted nearly all of Tshom’s opponents and knows all their moves. He also knows what Tshom is capable of doing more than anyone else.”

Cruz was in Go’s corner when the UST star bagged a gold and a ticket to Beijing at the Manchester qualifiers last year.

Ycasas, who works for the PSC in coordinating National Sports Association affairs, won gold medals in the SEA Games in 1991 as a flyweight, in 1995 as a lightweight, in 1997 as a lightweight again and in 2001 as a welterweight. She also claimed a bronze in 1993 as a bantamweight.