Jocelyn Ninobla successfully defended her crown and won the first gold medal for the Philippine taekwondo team after ruling the women's individual recognized poomsae in the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the Tay Ho Gymnasium in Hanoi, Vietnam Monday, May 16.
Ninobla is still the reigning poomsae queen in the regional biennial meet after besting home bet Le Tran Kim Uyen of Vietnam, Defia Rosmaniar of Indonesia, and Ornawee Srisahakit of Thailand.
Ninobla met familiar faces but showed poise in her routine to finish with 7.765, Le Tran followed suit with 7.649, while Rosmaniar and Srisahakit scored 7.549 and 7.482, respectively.
The podium saw slight changes as Le Tran moved up one place higher compared to her bronze finish more than two years ago while Srisahakit, who was a silver medalist in the 2019 SEA Games, slipped to second runner-up.
Ninobla, a former standout from University of Santo Tomas, was the first jin to take the gold for the national team.
Her men's counterpart Rodolfo Reyes Jr., also the reigning champion, wasn't included in the list on the official website but helped deliver silver medal for the team category alongside Patrick King Perez and Raphael Enrico Mella.
The quintet of Janna Dominique Oliva, Juvenile Faye Crisostomo, Justin Kobe Macario, Darius Venerable, and Jeordan Dominguez likewise clinched silver in the mixed freestyle event.