NATIONAL University collected its fourth straight men's championship after completing a 5-0 sweep of the UAAP Season 85 taekwondo tournament, capping with a 4-3 win over University of Santo Tomas Thursday at the Blue Eagle Gym.
The title is also the Bulldogs' fourth title in this season -- the second in three days after the program won its first-ever poomsae crown on Tuesday.
"Siyempre, sobrang saya no na na-maintain yung four-peat. Alam naman natin na hindi madali na mag-maintain na ganong streak, kailangan talaga ng hardwork," NU head coach Carlos Padilla said. "Yung training ng mga bata, hindi biro -- two to three times a day, Monday to Saturday. So, binigay sa kanila ngayon. Sobrang happy ako na nagbunga yung pinagpaguran nila."
On the other hand, UST reclaimed the women's tiara since Season 76 -- its 13th in the event with a similar 6-0 sweep of the competition.
The Female Tiger Jins completed their dominant run with a rousing 6-1 win over the previous four-peat champions Lady Bulldogs.
"We're overjoyed, especially after the pandemic. As you know, lahat naman ng teams naghanda, Pero yung team kasi namin -- even during the pandemic --kahit na online yung setting, kahit hindi namin gusto yung online, we're still training during that time," UST coach Gershon Bautista said.
Tokyo Olympian Kurt Barbosa kickstarted the day for the Bulldogs after taking care of his national teammate Rommel Pablo Jr, 2-0. Barbosa, who went 5-0 for the season, came from behind in a 12-11 first round before fending off Pablo (4-1), 12-7, in the second to take the 1-0 lead.
Season 82 Most Valuable Player Sturjay Gilbuena (4-0) then captured the title for the squad, 2-0 (5-5, 3-2), over Reyvin Villanueva (4-1) after taking the 4-0 advantage.
Barbosa won his third straight finweight (under-54 kg) gold for the effort and claimed his second MVP award since Season 81 when he was a rookie.
De La Salle University ended third with a 3-2 win-loss record, capped by a 6-1 rout of rivals Ateneo de Manila University.
Green Jin Einz Aricayos, who won the welterweight (under-80 kg) title, took the Rookie of the Year honors.
On the other hand, UST bucked a match loss to take the women's title after Realis Tabiando (5-0) took down Jubilee Briones (3-2), 2-0 (2-1, 3-2) in the featherweight (under-62 kg) match.
National team stalwart Veronica Garces (5-0) pulled one back for the Lady Bulldogs in the flyweight (under-46 kg) match against Angelica Valdez (3-2) in two rounds, 3-3, 5-3, but it was the last time the former champions took a match over the Tiger Jins.
31st Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist Laila Delo (5-0) captured both the middle/heavyweight gold (over-67 kg) and the MVP plum, while teammate Reign Ragutana won both the welterweight (under-67 kg) title and the best rookie award.
DLSU also finished third in the women's side after ending with a 3-2 record, ending the season with a 6-1 rout of Far Eastern University.
Joining Barbosa on the men's finweight podium are UST's Pablo and FEU's Radiz Navidad (2-3), while Dex Ian Chavez (5-0) of NU are with UST's Liporada (4-1) and University of the Philippines' Lois Manalaysay (3-2) completed the flyweight (under-58 kg) rostrum.
Returning Green Jin Carlo Dionisio (5-0) won the bantamweight (under-63 kg) title over NU's Kurt Pajuelas (4-1) and UST's Dave Lobaton (3-2). Gilbuena paced the featherweight (under-68 kg) side with Villanueva and UP's Kyle Laroya (3-2)
Justin Mark Agno (5-0) of UST led the lightweight (under-74) winners with Tamaraw Jemuel Rendora (4-1) and Bulldog Lao Nusair (3-2).
Two DLSU jins took the other two titles with Aricayos and Marc Gasilos (5-0) in the middle/heavyweight (over-80 kg). In the welterweight podium with Aricayos (5-0) are UST's Israel Cantos (4-1) and FEU's Hedwig Yap (3-2), while UST's Mark Arby (4-1) and NU's Gab Soria (3-2) joined Gasilos.
On the women's side, UST garnered five golds with Delo (5-0) and Ragutana (5-0) leading the way. Jasmine Ramirez (4-1) took the finweight (under-46 kg) title, Mary Limjoco (4-1) bagged the bantamweight (under-53 kg) crown, and Tabiando won the lightweight (under-62 kg) gold to put UST on top in terms of medals.
Joining Delo as medalists in the middle/heavyweight are DLSU's Allyah Eusalan (4-1) and NU's Micha Villarama (3-2) and with Ragutana in the welterweight are NU's Nicole Anne Mc Cann (4-1) and DLSU's Argie Lamasan (3-2).
The finweight podium also had NU's Clarence Sarza (4-1) and Ateneo's Eirenne Lumasang (3-2), while DLSU's Purcia Ang (3-2) and NU's Abigail Abing (3-2) completed the bantamweight winners.
Florence Chavez (5-0) of UP won the featherweight (under-57 kg) class ahead of UST's Laizel Abucay (4-1) and NU's Via Trocio (3-2), while Garces took the other gold and paced the flyweight (under-49 kg) class with Valdez and DLSU's Jade Papa (3-2).
