MANILA, Philippines - Mikeala Calamba, a 15-year-old high school junior at Cebu’s University of San Carlos (North Campus), made waves in the recent seventh World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Tunja City, Colombia by bagging the female individual freestyle gold medal with a dazzling performance that showed her unparalleled flexibility and balance.
It was a rare but well-deserved triumph for the Cebu teenager who held off the strong challenge of silver medalist Chau Tuyet Van of Vietnam and bronze winners Defia Rosmaniar of Indonesia and Ann Bernadette Rodriguez of the United States to the delight of the small but competitive PLDT Poomsae Taekwondo national team.
Calamba and her rivals drew loud cheers from the crowd as they kicked, twisted and flipped their way across the mat against imaginary rivals.
“We’re very proud of Mikeala and our other poomsae (forms) athletes,” said a jubilant Philippine Taekwondo Association CEO Sung Chon Hong after the event. “They all did well against the best from 57 other countries including powerhouse Korea, Spain, Iran and Germany.”
It was only the second gold medal won by the Philippines in the prestigious world championships organized by the World Taekwondo Federation. Hong gave a lot of credit to PLDT for its tremendous support.