Taekwondo jins from Murcia stamped their class on the recent 35th SMART National Taekwondo Championships at the Makati City Coliseum with St. Benilde School fifth grader Marcus Ernesto Hinojas bringing home the best player honors, a press release from Murcia said.

Hinojas, who led the St. Benilde charge in the 2011 edition of the NOPSSCEA, where the La Salle-affiliate school emerged as team champion, bannered the Asenso Murciahanon Taekwondo Club Grade School Boys’ Team campaign in the nationals that saw more than 1,000 top taekwondo players nationwide competing.

“It’s been a busy year for the AMTC. Our athletes went through rigid training regimen under a new coaching team. Their hard work paid off,” said Murcia Mayor Andrew Montelibano, who organized the club only two years ago with support from Gov. Alfredo Marañon, Jr., Rep. Albee Benitez, Bingo Bonanza, Vice President Jejomar Binay, and Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members Patrick Lacson and Man-Man Kho, the press release said.

In the run-up to the national event, the AMTC Grade School Boys Team also capped their Inter-School Regional Taekwondo Championships campaign with the overall crown in Iloilo City last month.

Hinojas completed his knock-out round assignments with a 5-0 sweep, including a 14-2 triumph over Kenneth Frincillo of the National Capital Region-based EDSCI Team A, the press release said.

Also winning gold medals for the AMTC in the annual team competition were Roem Joseph Ayuban, Adriano Horlador III, Keith Smart Docado, Jan Mikael Casana and Deb Matthew Daclan, the 2012 PalaroPambansa gold medalist.

The Murcia boys, in the earlier elims matches, routed Olympia, 5-0; overwhelmed EDSCI-A, 4-1, in the second elimination round, and swept Quezon City’s DPS Team 1, 5-0, in the quarterfinals.

Baguio Defenders Gray Team bowed to AMTC, 4-1, in the semis. The Murciahanons booked identical 4-win, 1-loss record in the championships against Baguio Defenders Blue side for the overall crown.

A total of 42 squads vied for top honors in the boys’ contest, with the AMTC as the lone overall winner from the Visayas and Mindanao regions in the history of the PTA’s annual tournament . About 30 sides saw action in the girls’ division, the press release added.*

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