Filipino grapplers, led by Fierre Afan and Maria Aisa Ratcliff, scooped four gold medals, five silvers and two bronze medals to finish third overall in the 2023 United World Wrestling United World Grappling Asian Championships at the Beeline Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Afan showed tremendous poise and power to capture the gold medals in both junior grappling U-20 71 kg no gi event and the 71kg gi class over the weekend.
He bested all of his four opponents, including Kazakhstan’s world champion Artem Khvan in the finals of the U-20 no gi junior category, 9-2, for his first gold, before securing another one via a 3-0 win in the gi 71-kg event against Meiirbek Yeskazyyev, also of Kazakhstan.
Afan, 19, also captured two silver medals in the senior 71-kg class.
Ratcliff, 34, dominated the gi and no gi women’s seniors’ 53-kg class for two gold medals after sweeping all her four opponents in both her brackets — highlighted by her final battle with Kazakhstan’s Alina Kaskinova, whom she beat, 6-5, in the gi category.
Wrestling Association of the Philippines president Alvin Aguilar expressed gratitude to his fighters for giving their best and making history, especially to Afan for beating a world champion.
“Fierre [Afan] beat a world champion in his first fight. It’s a great performance of our athletes. We’re very happy with the results, but we will not be taking a break as we will still be training in preparation for the coming World Championships,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar’s two sons Lukie and Lucho also took home two medals each. Lukie got silvers in the no gi and gi boys’ U-17 competitions, while brother Lucho had a silver in the no gi and a bronze in the gi U-15 division.
Other medalists were Vince Ortiz (bronze in senior men’s gi 62 kg) and Michael Tabamo (bronze men’s grappling 62 kg).
Host Kazakhstan took home the overall championship, followed by Iran at second.
Meanwhile, Lester del Rosario also participated in the 2023 UWW United World Grappling Asian Championships as the first Filipino licensed referee to officiate a grappling and wrestling international event.
