Two-time Olympian Go RP's best bet for taekwondo gold

With Mary Antoinette Rivero injured, two-time Olympian Tshomlee Go is the Philippines' best bet to win a taekwondo gold medal in the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China next month. Rivero, the 2006 Doha Asiad silver medalist in the women’s welterweight division and also a two-time Olympian, won't be competing this time after she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during training. Being considered to take Rivero's spot are Michelle Monterey and Filipino-American Pauline Lopez in the finweight division. Despite Rivero missing the November 12 to 27 quadrennial event, Philippine national team coach Rocky Samson remains confident the Filipino jins can end a 24-year gold-medal drought since taekwondo was added to the Asian Games calendar in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea. "I think we're due to win a gold medal in the coming Games. That's really our target. And the players are really focused and working hard to achieve it," Samson said. Samson added that he believes Go, finweight John Paul Lizardo and welterweight Marlon Avenido have strong chances to medal based on their performances in past tournaments. Go was also a silver medalist in Doha, Lizardo placed second in the 2010 Asian taekwondo championships in Astana, Kazakhstan while Avenido pocketed the a bronze in the same tournament. Butch Morrison is also a medal hopeful, after the 6-foot-2 lightweight pulled off an upset win against Olympic bronze medalist Byng Sup Song to win the gold in last month' Korean Open. Aside from Go, who will compete in the men’s bantamweight class, others tasked to carry the fight are Paul Romero (flyweight), Jeffrey Figueroa (featherweight), and female jins Jyra Lizardo (flyweight), Jade Zafra (bantamweight), Karla Alava (featherweight), Camille Manalo (lightweight) and Elaine Alora (middleweight). The RP jins trained for three weeks in Korea, competed in the Korean Open, and had a 10-day sparring session with the Asiad-bound Korean national team as part of their preparation for the Guangzhou Asian Games. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV