ALEXANDRIA Luz Enriquez spearheaded the Philippine fight in the 20th Asian Games jiu jitsu competitions, taking a silver medal in the women’s -63kg on the final day of the continental meet in Japan on Saturday.
With world champions Annie Ramirez and Kimberly Custodio suffering early exits, Enriquez rose as the gold medal contender for the Filipinos by reaching the final.
Unfortunately, Enriquez bowed to Orapa Senatham of Thailand in a tightly-contested bout at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall Mat 2.
Despite a 0 scorecard, the Thai won over the Filipino as she scored an advantage for a near-pass or near-sweep.
Senatham almost held Enriquez down, but she rolled over and scrambled out before getting a point.
In jiu-jitsu, a player must hold their opponent down for at least three seconds to earn a point from the judges.
Enriquez started her campaign with wins over Palestinian Dania Obaid and Kazakh Marian Zhuravleva in the round of 16 and quarterfinals, respectively.
The 27-year-old then defeated Mongolian Narakhishig Baasanjargal in the semifinals to enter the gold medal round.
A gold medalist at the Asian Beach Games, Enriquez increased the Philippine jiujitsu team’s medal haul this Asian Games to two after Kaila Napolis’ bronze on Friday.
Napolis defeated Mongolian Tsagaanbileg Altangerel, 2-0, in the women’s 52kg division battle for third place.
Meanwhile, another Filipino bet Andea Lois Lao finished just outside the podium after a 0-2 loss to Baasanjargal.
Other Philippine jiujitsu artists Vito Luis Luzuriaga and David Miranda suffered early exits on Saturday, falling to Mongolian counterparts.
Luzuriaga yielded to Altangerel Bayarkhuu in the men’s 85kg round of 32, while Miranda bowed to Batbayar Batsukh also in the round of 32 in the same weight division.
