MANILA, Philippines – When Philippine taekwondo Olympian and Makati Representative Monsour del Rosario found out that the Ateneo Junior High School bully caught on video was a young taekwondo jin, he did not mince words in calling out the student – and his parents.
"Yes, none of us are perfect – we've all made our mistakes and should not judge people loosely. But to the parents of the bully, let's be very clear here. This is as firm a judgment as you will ever get from me: Your son is a FAILED representation of our beautiful sport," said Del Rosario.
Del Rosario, secretary-general of the Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA), described the incident as "hideous, weak and unacceptable." He added: "Raise your children better. Let's all raise our children to be better. Let's raise our sons – particularly those in martial arts – to be good men," emphasized the decorated taekwondo jin.
Earlier, the PTA formed an ad hoc committee to investigate the incident, saying the alleged Ateneo taekwondo jin's actions were a "serious matter".
Prior to joining the fields of entertainment and politics, the 53-year-old was a back-to-back gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games and earned bronze medals in the 1985 Seoul World Championships and 1986 Asian Games.
He saw action in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and reached the quarterfinal round.
Soon, Del Rosario will be the only non-Korean of all time to be inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame.
The former Taekwondo jin is now leading the Philippine delegation as the 2019 SEA Games chef de mission. – Rappler.com
