SAN JOSE De BUENAVISTA, Antique -- Antique Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao on Tuesday awarded PHP10,000 cash to a taekwondo jin who won a gold medal in recent competition held in Los Angeles, USA.
Antiqueno athlete Jean Albert Tunguia was encouraged by his trainer to compete in an international event after failing to win a medal during the Palarong Pambansa held in the province last April.
Thirteen-year-old Tunguia, a grade 7 student of John B. Lacson Maritime University in Iloilo City, said in an interview Wednesday that his experience at the Palaro challenged him to train harder that he was able to get a gold medal in International Taekwondo Festival in Los Angeles in May 2017.
"The cash award is a way for the provincial government to show its support to the athletes",Cadiao said. The governor has established a sports academy in the province for students excelling in sports.
The Antique government has also invited a water polo Olympian to train children who are swimmers.
Albert Espanol, a Barcelona-born Olympian, vacationing in the Philippines, this month, conducted a free clinic among the Antiqueno swimmers at the Binirayan Sports Complex in San Jose de Buenavista.
The Spanish athlete is with Spain’s national team for the last 10 years and competed in the Olympic Games in London 2012 and in Rio 2016.
Among the medals he won was a silver in the World Championship in Rome in 2009. (PNA)
