Taekwondo tourney on at SM malls

MANILA, Philippines - The 2014 SMART Philippine Taekwondo League unwraps today in two SM malls with top teams from Philippine Taekwondo Association-affiliated schools, colleges and universities seeing action.

Commissioner Monsour del Rosario and tournament director Stephen Fernandez said the event will feature a special round called “Tag round” where a team with a maximum of 10 athletes can have unlimited substitutions in one 5-minute round and the team that scores the highest points wins the match.

There will be 12 matches tomorrow at SM Valenzuela and SM Novaliches – three in senior men, three in senior women, four in junior men and two in Cadet boys.

Sunday’s program at SM Fairview will feature 11 matches – five in senior men and six in senior women.

The PSS (Protective Scoring System) and ESS (Electronic System), electronic arms and socks and the IVR (Instant Video Replay) system will be used to ensure accurate, fair and spectator-friendly matches, according to Del Rosario and Fernandez.

The event is supported by MVP Sports Foundation, SMART Communications Inc., PLDT, TV5 and Meralco.

Tomorrow’s pairings are:

Senior men – Mapua vs Letran, UPHCR vs EAC and SBC vs UP.

Senior women – Arellano vs NU, FEU vs SSCR and FEU vs SBC

Junior men – ESS vs SSA, DPS vs DLSZ, UE vs SSCR and DLSZ vs ESS

Cadet Boys: Letran vs OLOPS, LSGH vs DPS

On Sunday, it will be DBM against Mapua, Arellano against NU, LPU against CSB, DLSU against FEU and RTU against SSCR in senior men and DLSU against LPU, CSB against FEU, NU against Mapua, DLSU against UP, UST against LPU and UP against UE.

Martial arts enthusiasts and sports buffs are invited to watch, especially children who are interested to learn the sport.