TWO 13-year-old girls boosted the Philippines’ international sports image anew by winning two medals—a gold and a silver—in the recent World Cadet Taekwondo Championships in Sharme El Sheikh, Egypt.
Mary Angeline Alcantara demolished five opponents in the -44-kilogram category to capture a gold medal and bag the MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award in the tournament which featured 424 other athletes from 46 countries.
Arianne Espida shared the honors with Alcantara by bringing home a silver medal in the -33-kilogram competition.
Alcantara crushed her finals rival from Russia, 18-4, after beating her foes from India (26-5), Italy (18-9), Ukraine (24-3) and Tunisia (7-5).
After winning her first match by disqualification over Spain’s entry, Espida beat her Italian and Egyptian rivals, 7-5 and 20-20 (golden point/first to connect in sudden death), respectively, before bowing to Turkey’s bet, 2-2 (also by golden point) in the finals.
Alcantara, Espida and six other Filipino athletes carried the colors of Meralco/MVP Sports Foundation in the world Cadet event. The national team was also supported by Smart Communications Inc., PLDT, Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee.