From regional and Continental supremacy, jiu-jitsu ace Annie Ramirez brought her dominance to the global stage.
The Filipina warrior struck gold at the JJIF World Championships in Bangkok with a smashing run capped by a 2-0 victory over Astrid Scholin of Sweden in the adult -57kg Gi division then annexed the mint in the -57kg No-Gi event for a rare double-triumph for Team Philippines.
This feat at the worlds completed the former UST judoka’s gold-medal harvest in every major competition beginning with the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, Asian Championships, AIMAG and Asian Beach Games.
For this, Ramirez earned the nod as the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s top achiever for November 2025.
Her jiu-jitsu teammate, Kimberly Anne Custodio, billiards player Jonas Magpantay, and young gymnast Karl Eldrew Yulo, also ranked high in the scribes’ honor roll for the month.
Custodio captured her third world title also at the Thai capital after submitting UAE’s Aysha Alshamsi via armbar in the championship match of the adult female -45kg division.
From virtual unknown, Magpantay rose to prominence with his Cinderella run at the Qatar World Cup 10-Ball in Doha, where he took down a slew of giants like Carlo Biado and Oliver Szolnoki on his way to the biggest win of his career.
In front of home supporters that included his older brother, Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos Yulo, Eldrew Yulo dazzled to podium finishes in the floor exercise and horizontal bar apparatuses at the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships in Pasay City.
Also shining in other fronts were cuemaster Kyle Amoroto and golfers Rolando Bregente, Chris John, Remata Perry Josef Bucay and Shinichi Suzuki.
Amoroto reigned supreme at the All-Japan Championship in Osaka after pulling the rug from under fancied compatriot Johann Chua in the finals, 11-5.
Bregente, Remata, Bucay and Suzuki retained the Putra Cup title for the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Amateur Golf Team Championships, beating Thailand by two in Tarlac.
Others achieved milestones such as tennis star Alex Eala, who became the first Filipina to crack the Top 50 of the WTA rankings, the Filipina5, who scored a total of three goals in their debut at the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup in Pasig, and Gilas Pilipinas, which set a new rebounding record in an Asian Qualifiers game with 61 in its 87-46 rout of Guam in the first qualifying window of the FIBA World Cup in Guam.
