Ochoa, Ramirez deliver two jiu-jitsu gold medals

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan – The jiujitsu female fighters finally struck gold after Margarita “Meggie” Ochoa and Annie Ramirez won their respective events Tuesday in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) at the Ashgabat Olympic Complex here.

It was the 27-year-old Ochoa who gave the national team its first gold medal following a 5-0 victory against Le Thu Trang Dao of Vietnam in the -45 Ne-Waza women’s category.

“I’m very happy… I’m really overwhelmed with this win,” said Ochoa, a petite fighter who won the gold medal in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championship from 2014 to 2016.

Ramirez, a two-time Asian Beach Games winner, captured the gold in the -55kg division in an all-Filipino finals as she bested Jenna Kaila Napolis at the Martial Arts Indoor Arena.

The national team now has a medal tally of two golds, three silvers and a bronze.

Aside from the silver of Napolis, Marc Alexander Lim and Gian Taylor Dee also settled with a silver medal in jiu-jitsu, while Alvin Lobreguito earned a bronze in traditional wrestling.

Lim and Dee both lost to their respective opponents from United Arab Emirates – the former against Talib Saleh Mohamed Sale Alkirbi in the -65kg, 2-0, and the latter to Omar Mohammed Alwan Moha Alfadhli in the -56kg, 2-0.

Lim grappled with Alkirbi in their -65kg men's Ne-Waza finals match, and was on top trying to win the match via a submission several times. Bit in the final moments, the UAE black belter forced his way out of the clinch.

That crucial move by the reigning Asian Beach Games and Asian Jiu-Jitsu champion in the last 17 seconds of the six-minute match proved decisive as he scored two points.

On Tuesday morning, Fil-Am Eric Cray topped his heat in the 60meter run to qualify in the semifinals at the Indoor Athletics Arena. The reigning Asian Athletics 400m winner skipped Monday’s 60m hurdles to focus on the 60m event with hopes of delivering a medal later in the evening.

Mervin Guarte, on the other hand, failed to make it to the semis of the 1500m.

Also competing at press time are Rio Olympics silver medal winner Hidilyn Diaz, Dessa delos Santos, Ann Ando and Kristel Macrohon in weightlifting, and cue artists Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes, Francisco ‘Django’ Bustamante, Dennis Orcullo, Jefrey Roda and Carlo Biado.