Jakarta—The battle for the bronze medal may have been an All-Filipino affair between Margarita “Meggie” Ochoa and Jenna Kaila Napolis, but this didn’t stop the two from going all out against each other in the Newaza Women’s -49kg event at the start of Ju-jitsu Competitions of the 18th Asian Games at the Jakarta Convention Center here on Friday.
In the end, it was Ochoa who bagged the bronze, the Philippines’ sixth in these games after she outclassed Napolis with a series of locks to earn a 2-0 victory.
“Masayang masaya po ako. Mas masaya po sana kung parehas kaming may medalya ni Jenna, pero kahit magkababayan kami ay fair play pa rin po at ipinakita namin ang best namin,” said Ochoa.
Ochoa and Napolis had to face each other for the sure bronze of the Philippines after fighting their own way up in the elimination round.
Ochoa, a 28-year-old Ateneo de Manila Management graduate, had to rise from the repecharge, while the 22-year-old College of De La Salle-St. Benilde student Napolis strung up two wins before losing in the semifinals.
Their own separate paths led to the battle for the bronze medal, the Ju-jitsu delegation’s first in the quadrennial games.
Ochoa won her first two matches against Yasmeen Joralkhatib of Jordan via superiority, before eliminating Siramlo Thadeepudsa of Thailand on points, 2-0. She lost in the quarterfinals to Thi Than Minh Vieduong of Vietnam via superiority, but rebounded in the repechage against Bayarmaa Munkhgerel of Mongolia.
Ochoa last won a gold in the Asian Championships’ Newaza -49kg event in 2018 in Aktau, Kazakhstan and had a bronze in 2017 in Hanoi, Vietnam. She was also the gold medallist in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in the -45kg division.
Napolis missed a chance to compete for the gold as she lost in the semifinals to Jessa Khan of Cambodia via a tap out. She won earlier against Santi Apriyani Savitri of host Indonesia in the Round of 16 and in the quarterfinals to Wadima Alyafei of United Arab Emirates.
