THE country’s best and toughest jins battle it out in the Smart/MVP Sports Foundation-National Carlos Palanca Jr. (CPJ) Taekwondo Championships on Saturday and Sunday at the Ayala Malls-Manila Bay in Parañaque City.
Tokyo Olympics campaigner Kurt Bryan Barbosa heads the list of grizzled veterans in the tournament organized by the Philippine Taekwondo Association and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee and Milo.
The fighters to watch include Mexico world championships quarterfinalist Dave Cea and Joseph Chua, along with Laila Delo, Baby Jessica Canabal and Southeast Asian Games multi-medalist Elaine Alora.
More than 1,000 jins were confirmed for two events—kyorugi (freee sparring) and poomsae (form).
The kyorugi competitions feature senior, junior, cadet and grade school jins for male and female, while the poomsae events will be in individual, team and mixed pairs and freestyle for individual and mixed teams.
The competition serves as a tune-up event for the members of the national team to the Asian Taekwondo Federation Championships scheduled March 11 and 12 also at the Ayala Malls.
It also part of a series of qualifying tournaments for slots on the national teams to the world championships, Asian Games, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, world cadet championships and the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.