NATIONAL University opened its title-retention bid in the women’s division with a 5-2 victory over De La Salle yesterday in the UAAP Season 80 taekwondo tournament at the Blue Eagle Gym.
Sisters Rhezie and Rheza Aragon led the charge for the Lady Bulldogs, who are tipped as one of the favorites in the three-day tournament.
University of the Philippines took the solo lead in men’s action with a 4-3 win over defending champion University of Santp Tomas and a 6-1 conquest of Ateneo.
In other women’s results, UST dominated University of the East, 6-1, while Ateneo, behind last season’s top rookie Pauline Lopez, edged UP, 4-3.
De La Salle bounced back from its defeat to NU in the afternoon session with a 5-2 dismantling of Far Eastern University.
Other men’s opening bouts showed NU prevailing over De La Salle, 5-2, and FEU emerging victorious over UE, 5-2.
Meanwhile, UST won the juniors championship with Israel Cantos bagging the MVP honors. NU, which lost to UST via tiebreak, finished second, while De La Salle-Zobel nosed out last year’s titleholder UE via tiebreak to claim third place.