Hangzhou—Jiu-jitsu delivered the Philippines’ second gold medal from the sport in as many days, this time courtesy of Annie Ramirez’s emotional win over Galina Duvanova of Kazakhstan in the finals of the women’s 57kgs at the foe Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium JJI Mat 2 here on Friday.
A day after Meggie Ochoa raised the Philippines’ gold total to two in the women’s 48-kg finals, Ramirez followed suit with her own golden performance, blanking her Kazakh foe in a 2-0 victory that erased her forgettable 2018 showing in the Jakarta-Palembang Asiad.
“This is very fulfilling on my part, ito na lang wala sa mga achievements ko. This is my second time in the Asian games, nakuha ko ang gold. From nothing in 2018 to gold,” said the 32-year-old Ramirez, the Asian 57kg champion in Bangkok earlier this year, a two-time winner in the 2017 edition in Hanoi in the 55 and Open categories and the 55-kg titlist in the Ashgabat meet.
Ramirez began her ascent to the top with a scoreless win by advantage over Vietnam’s le Thi Thuong, before scoring a dominant 7-0 win over Singapore’s Fiona Toh. She then pulled off her most emphatic win in the tournament, a 50-0 submission triumph over UAE’s Shamsa Alameri to set up the finals’ duel with the Kazakh.
“Malaking bagay sa akin itong panalong ito, kasi nakadagdag ako sa gold natin, ilang araw din tayong nahirapan sa gold, masaya ako na makatulong sa bansa,” said Ramirez.
Her gold, the Philippines’ third in the Asian Games here, was actually the second medal in the sport for the Filipinos, counting the earlier bronze of Jenna Kaila Napolis, who frustrated United Arab Emirates’ Hessa Alshamsi, 4-2, in the women’s 52-kg battle for third.
Napolis, a newly-minted Women’s Ne-Waza System -52kg champion of the Asian Championships in Bangkok, Thailand early this year, began her campaign with a 2-0 win over Kazakhstan’s Kristina Zhurabekova, before pulling off a 2-0 stopping of Korea’s Park Jeonghye.
In the quarterfinals. This was followed by yet another 2-0 decision over UAE’s Asma Alhosani in the semifinals as Napolis set up a title showdown with Alshamsi for the gold.
The jiu-jitsu medals raised the Philippines’ gold-silver-bronze tally to 3-2-11 as the Filipinos jumped from 22nd to 18th place overall.
Ramirez stands to receive a P2-million windfall as gold winner, while Napolis is expected to get P500,000 as bronze medalist based on the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act.