John Paul Lizardo (born June 8, 1986), also known as Japoy Lizardo, is a Filipino former

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

Player for the Philippine National Team, practitioner, actor and

commercial model A model is a person with a role either to display commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an artist's model. Modelling ("modeling" in American English) entails using one's body to represent someone els ...

Education

Lizardo attended Pasig Catholic College and studied college at De La Salle University - College of Saint Benilde.

Career

At 11 years old, Lizardo took up taekwondo, the year later he earned black belt. He joined the Philippine Black Belt contingent, the national team for students pursuing their elementary and high school studies, at age 12. When he was two years older, he joined the Philippine junior national team and began to compete in international tournaments such as the Korean Open and the Asian Junior Championship. By age 18, Lizardo was already a member of the senior national team. Lizardo first garnered attention at the 2001 Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships where he captured the silver medal in the men's finweight. He has won three medals (two silvers one bronze) at the senior stage of the

Asian Taekwondo Championships The Asian Taekwondo Championships are the Asian senior championships in Taekwondo, first held in South Korea in 1973. The event is held every two years and is organized by the Asian Taekwondo Union, the continental affiliate of World Taekwondo, w ...

and competed in the

World Taekwondo Championships The World Taekwondo Championship is held every two years by World Taekwondo. In addition to the kyorugi (full contact fighting) Championships, there are also Para World Championships as well as Poomsae and Para Poomsae Championships held every ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. He ended his competitive career when he quit as a member of the Philippine men's taekwondo team in November 2015 due to his leg injury. Lizardo was among the 14 scholar-athletes who have scholarships from the Olympic Solidarity Movement under the Philippine Olympic Committee. By 2016, Lizardo now serves as head coach of the Philippine national taekwondo team.

Personal life

He is married with co-taekwondo artist Janice Lagman since May 8, 2016. On August 11, 2016, the couple announced on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

that they are expecting their first child. They announced the birth of their first child on February 25, 2017.

References

External links

* Interview on Japoy Lizardo fro
World Taekwondo Federation
(official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lizardo, Japoy Living people 1986 births Star Magic Viva Artists Agency Filipino male taekwondo practitioners Filipino male television actors Asian Games medalists in taekwondo Taekwondo practitioners at the 2006 Asian Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 2010 Asian Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines SEA Games silver medalists for the Philippines SEA Games medalists in taekwondo Competitors at the 2005 SEA Games Competitors at the 2007 SEA Games Competitors at the 2009 SEA Games Competitors at the 2011 SEA Games Asian Taekwondo Championships medalists Filipino YouTubers 21st-century Filipino sportsmen