The Philippines ended its Asian Youth Games campaign on a high note as Isabella Butler captured the gold medal in the jiu-jitsu girls’ -63kg division on Thursday, providing a fitting finale to the country’s participation in the continental meet.
The 17-year-old Butler submitted the United Arab Emirates’ Aysha Aljneibi via collar choke with one minute and five seconds left in the match.
Born in Davao City and now based in Huntington Beach, California, Butler expressed pride in reconnecting with her roots and representing the Philippines on the international stage.
Her triumph boosted the nation’s final medal tally to seven gold, seven silver, and ten bronze medals — good for 12th place among 45 competing countries.
“We found that there was a way to represent the Philippines through the sport that I love, and I’m grateful I got the chance to do so,” Butler said.
Already a gold medallist at last year’s JJIF Jiu-Jitsu World Championships in Greece, Butler shared that her next goal is to make the adult national team and compete at the Southeast Asian Games.
“I plan to try out for the adult team next year and compete at the SEA Games,” she added.
On her road to the title, Butler defeated Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym Dossymzhankyzy via submission in the Round of 16. She then scored a pair of 4-0 victories over Thailand’s Maria Elissavet Kokoliou in the quarterfinals and Uzbekistan’s Ziyoda Shomurodova in the semifinals.
“I was able to get to my controlling positions at close guard, which I love, and I was able to work from there,” Butler explained. “All of the stuff that I’ve been doing in training, working on close guard and attacks from there, as well as my lapel guard, which I was able to display today, that was really cool.”
Butler’s victory capped a productive campaign for Team Philippines, which also saw gold medals from Kram Airam Carpio in pencak silat (girls’ 51–55kg), Charlie Ratcliff in modern MMA (girls’ 45kg), Pi Durden Wangkay in athletics (boys’ 200m), Lyre Anie Ngina in muay (girls’ wai kru 14–15), Zeth Gabriel Bueno in muay (boys’ wai kru 14–15), and the duo of Jan Brix Ramiscal and Tyron Jamborillo in muay (mixed team mai muay).
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Mara Alexandria Sarinas claimed a bronze medal in the girls’ -57kg jiu-jitsu division after submitting Thailand’s Prasita Rumakom.
Sixteen-year-old Sebastien Blaize Cabanlig narrowly missed the podium in the boys’ -48kg jiu-jitsu category. Meanwhile, several other Filipino athletes delivered commendable performances in both the mats and beach wrestling arenas, even as gold remained just out of reach.
