As expected, the Philippine jujitsu fighters delivered on the first day of the competition.
Meggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez set the campaign of the Philippine national jujitsu team into motion with two gold medals in the women’s under-48 kg and under-62 kg, respectively, Saturday at the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the Dan Phuong Gymnasium in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ochoa started her dominant performance with a win over eventual silver medalist in Vietnam’s Minh Duong Thi Thanh.
The 2019 women’s under-45 gold medalist then followed it up with wins over Malaysia’s Khoon Yin Bless Yeap and Thailand’s Kanjutha Phattaraboonsorn to complete the sweep.
Ramirez, who won the last edition’s women’s under-55 crown, on her part, started with a win past Malaysia’s Cassandra J Poyong.
The University of Santo Tomas product then took down Fiona Toh of Singapore and Orapa Senatham of Thailand in that order, before rounding up the sweep with a win over hometown bet Tu Nguyen Ngoc.
In the men’s under-62 kg side, 2019 men’s under-56kg champion Carlo Pena could not take the gold in the higher weight class.
He opened the day with a win over Vietnam’s Van Thang Can and Indonesia’s Sunardi Muliawan for a 2-0 slate. Thailand’s Suwijak Kuntong stopped Pena in an eventual gold medal bout before bouncing back over Malaysia’s Chin Hong Thew.
The national jujitsu team is expected to haul more medals as the competition gets rolling as they amassed five golds, three silvers, and three bronzes to take the overall title in 2019 in San Fernando, Pampanga here in the country.
