INCUMBENT Manila Councilor Arnold “Ali” Atienza hailed Pauline Louise Lopez’s gold medal-winning performance in the recent 22nd Asian Taekwondo Championships, saying the young Filipina jin has again put the country on the Asian taekwondo map.
Lopez’s gold—women’s -57 kgs at the expense of Korean champion Ah-Reum Lee, 8-6—was only the third for the country in the Asian Championships, considered the strongest continental tournament because of the presence of Koreans.
Atienza won the country’s second gold medal 22 years ago in the Asian Championships at the age of 21 in the men’s welterweight category and like Lopez, Atienza beat the towering Korean champion Kim Kyung Hun in 1994 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Arnold Baradi bagged the country’s first gold medal in the event in 1984, beating his rival from Chinese Taipei, also in Manila.
“Pauline Louise is a prime example that Filipinos excel in taekwondo. She ended a long gold medal drought, and she did it before her countrymen,” said Atienza, who is the front-runner in the City’s Vice Mayoral race.
Lopez was the only Filipino gold medalist in the Championship the country hosted at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom. Although the 19-year-old Los Angeles-based jin missed a ticket to the Rio Olympics in the Asian qualifier last week, she has set her focus on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“She is still young and she has a long way to go in taekwondo,” said Atienza, who is running under the UNA party. “She could be good for two more Olympics, even three if she remains focused and continues to train.”
Atienza has remained close to taekwondo—and sports in general—even after he has retired from active competition. During the term of his father, former Mayor Lito Atienza, the young Atienza headed the Manila Sports Council.
As MASCO head, Atienza staged an annual Manila Youth Games, a multi-sports competition among Manila’s school-aged athletes, making the City—and the National Capital Region—even more formidable in the Palarong Pambansa and the Philippine National Youth Games – Batang Pinoy.
Atienza also conducted the Manila Marathon under the MASCO umbrella. To date, the Manila Marathon remains the biggest foot race ever staged in Manila—it drew more than 40,000 runners in each of its two editions.
