One of our local Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athletes bagged the silver medal in the recently concluded 2014 Copa de Hong Kong Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tournament held in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Annie Ramirez of John Baylon Clube de Jiu-Jitsu has been dominating the Philippine Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu scene for the past few years. Just recently, Ramirez bagged two gold medals for her weight division and the women’s absolute blue belt division in the recently concluded Philippine National Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships last August 2, 2014.
Ramirez dispatched of her first opponent with a takedown then proceeded to submit her with an arm bar. In her 2nd match, Ramirez went in for a takedown giving her top positional control, but couldn’t finish the submission but scored enough points to give her the win. Ramirez bowed down to the much larger Amelia Lui of Atos-Grips Hong Kong in the finals of the division via an arm lock.
When asked about her experience in Hong Kong, she said:
“I think my experience in Copa de Hong Kong broadened my competition experience, facing different opponents; one’s that I haven’t faced before. I learned a lot and identified some mistakes in my game and some areas for improvement.
The BJJ level in Copa de Hong Kong is high. You can see the aggressiveness, strength and technical skills of those who competed; even the white belts. There were a lot of participants from other teams and countries also like Evolve Singapore, Nova Uniao Macau, China, and the various teams in Hong Kong. The event was run very well, so there were no problems. I look forward to competing again next year.
First and foremost, I’d like to thank God for all the blessings, my sensei John Baylon not only for teaching me Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, but also helping me fund my trip to Hong Kong to compete.
I’d also like to thank my teammates at John Baylon Clube de Jiu-Jitsu for always pushing me to train hard, last but not the least, I would like to thank my sponsor Bravest Filipinas for their all-out support.”
**Photos taken from Copa de Hong Kong BJJ’s Facebook Page
