Road to Beijing tough for 4 veteran Filipino jins

By Marc Anthony Reyes
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Athens Olympians Tshomlee Go and Antoinette Rivero will spearhead a four-man Philippine team seeking Beijing Olympic slots in the world championship in Manchester, England, next month.

Philippine Taekwondo Association president Robert Aventajado said Asian Gamers Eunice Alora and Alex Briones also earned slots to the RP squad.

Except for Briones, Go, Rivero and Alora all won gold medals in their respective divisions in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in Manila.

The 26-year-old Go also won a silver in the bantamweight division in the 2006 Doha Asian Games. He also picked up a bronze in the 2003 Olympic qualifying, bronze in the 2002 Asiad, and silvers in the 2001 World Cup and 2000 Asian championships.

Rivero, 19, is also an Asiad silver winner in the lightweight class. A SEAG gold medalist in 2003, Rivero also has a silver in the 2003 Olympic qualifier, 2003 Asian junior championships, 2003 Korean Open and 2002 SEA taekwondo union championships.

At age 13, Rivero won gold in the 2001 US Open.

Briones owns a silver in the 2006 Asian championships and the 2005 SEA Games.

He is also a back-to-back gold winner in the 2002 and 2003 Chun Cheong Korea championships.

The Laguna-based Alora took the featherweight gold in the 2005 SEAG and the bronze in the 2006 Asian Games. The 19-year-old is also a bronze medalist in the 2004 Asian and 2005 world championships.

Tapped as possible substitutes are John Paul Lizardo and Loraine Lorelie Catalan.

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