Olympian Kurt Bryan Barbosa will spearhead the Philippine campaign in the World Taekwondo Championships scheduled from Nov. 13 to 20 in Cancun, Mexico.
The other members of the Kyorugi (sparring) team are Joseph Chua (men’s minus 63-kilogram) Alfrits Arevalo (men’s minus 68-kg), Dave Cea (men’s minus 74-kg), Jessica Canabal (women’s minus 54-kg), and Laila Delo (women’s minus 67-kg).
The six athletes will be accompanied by coaches Carlos Padilla and Paul Romero.
Barbosa, Canabal, and Delo saw action in the 2019 World Championships held in Manchester, United Kingdom.
“I’m not expecting, I will go there and show who I am in the World Championships,” said the 23-year-old Barbosa, a UAAP Rookie and MVP awardee in 2019, in an interview on Saturday.
In Manchester, he lost in the first round to Thai Ramnarong Sawekwiharee, a bronze medalist in the 2015 (Russia) and 2017 (South Korea) World Championships.
Barbosa won in the semifinal round of the Asian qualifying event in Amman, Jordan to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games where he was defeated by world champion Jang Jun of South Korea in the round of 16.
This year, Barbosa has played three tournaments, including the Vietnam SEA Games where he collected his second consecutive gold medal in the men’s minus 54-kg category.
In July, he lost in the quarterfinal round at the Asian Taekwondo Championships. But he managed to secure a bronze medal at the Korean Open International Taekwondo Championships the following week.
When asked about his preparation for the Mexico event, Barbosa replied; “Everything is good”. (PNA)
