HANOI — Kurt Bryan Barbosa flashed his Olympic mettle against his Southeast Asian counterparts by winning the gold medal in the 31st Southeast Asian Games men’s taekwondo competition at the Tay Ho Gymnasium Tuesday.
The 22-year-old Abra native blasted Thailand’s Jaijulla Panachai, 16-7, in the men’s -54 kg kyorugi finals with barrage of combo kicks to successfully defend the title he won in the 2019 edition of the biennial meet staged in Manila.
“Gold! Kurt Barbosa adds one more gold for team Philippines,” Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham Tolentino said, who watched and cheered for the Philippine taekwondo team during the competition and was also present in the awarding ceremony.
Barbosa — who represented the Philippines in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — dominated Vietnamese Ngoc Lam Duong in the quarterfinals, 31-10, and beat Indonesia’s Reinaldy Atmanegara in the semifinals, 44-42.