ANNIE RAMIREZ added a second gold medal from jiujitsu to the Philippine coffers, while Vietnam continued to frolic in its own shoreline in Da Nang on the fifth day of the Fifth Asian Beach Games at the Bien Dong Park on Monday.
The 25-year-old Ramirez clobbered Deepudsa Siramol of Thailand, 10-0, to win the women’s -55-kilogram event and keep the Philippines in the top 10 on the tally board at No. 9 with two gold, one silver and 10 bronze medals.
Margarita “Meggia” Ochoa topped jiujitsu’s women’s newaza -45-kilogram class to win the country’s first gold medal on Sunday in the games that gathered athletes from 43 countries.
It was Ramirez’s second gold medal in the games. She took the women’s newaza (ground technique) -60-kg title two years ago in Phuket.
“There weren’t as many weight categories in Phuket two years ago so I competed at -60 kg. But I feel I have defended my title,” Ramirez, a juijitsu student and teacher at the Academia John Baylon-Clube de Ju-Jitsu Filipinas in Pasay City—told the games’ official web site.
Ramirez, who hails from Naga City, breezed through the quarterfinals with a 6-0 victory over Angelina Flippova of Turkmenistan and against Lebanese Lea Farhat, 9-0, in the semifinals.
Ramirez also told the games’ web site that she is looking forward to winning more gold medals in the Olympic Council of Asia’s Fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in September next year, and the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang in August 2018.
Flippova shared the event’s bronze with another Filipina, Jenina Kaila Napolis, the same color of medal which three-time Olympian Marestella Torres Sunang earned in women’s long jump.
Sunang leapt to 6.10 meters to finish third behind Thao Bui Thi Thu (6.32) and Mai Nguyen Thi Truc (6.11), who both helped Vietnam stay atop the medals race with a 16-16-22 gold-silver-bronze tally.
Thailand, however, continued to threaten the host with a second-running 16-10-14 haul, followed by China (5-9-10), Iran (5-2-2) and Jordan (4-4-5) in the top 5.
Rounding out the top 10 were the United Arab Emirates (4-2-3), Mongolia (2-3-5), Kazakhstan (2-3-3), the Philippines and Uzbekistan (2-1-0).
The Philippines lost, 0-2, to eventual champion Vietnam to settle for the sepak takraw team bronze medal.
Image credits: Courtesy abg2016.com