KRISTEL SATUMBAGA

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia —The Philippines hauled two gold medals at the start of taekwondo competitions Friday, May 12, in the 32^nd Southeast Asian Games at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center.

The trio of Aidaine Laxa, Nicole Labayne and Jocel Lyn Ninobla showcased artistic synchronicity to win the women’s recognized poomsae team event before Patrick Perez nailed his first SEAG gold in the men’s recognized poomsae individual.

Laxa, Labayne and Ninobla scored 7.72 points to beat Malaysia (7.70) and Thailand (7.66) while Perez registered 7.46 points to prevail over Malaysia’s Chin Ken Haw (7.38) and Cambodia’s Chhorn Kimhak (7.36).

“My mindset is to improve my performance in previous competitions,” said Perez, who had two runner-up finishes in team events in the previous two editions of the meet.

Kyorugi action heats up on Saturday, May 13.