Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) – Duplicating its dominant performance three years ago will be the focus of the Philippine jiu-jitsu team in defending its Southeast Asian Games crown in Hanoi, Vietnam next month.
The victorious team collected five golds, three silvers, and three bronzes to rule the inaugural SEA Games jiu-jitsu competition held in 2019 in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Meggie Ochoa, who clinched the gold in the women’s 45kg division in 2019, shared that each of the six Filipino jiu-jitsu fighters listed for the Vietnam SEA Games had their own individual training camps locally and abroad for the event.
On her part, Ochoa said she trained at the famed Atos Jiu-Jitsu Headquarters in San Diego, California.
“We did a world class camp in March and joined a tune up competition in April and before and after that we’ve also been training in small bubbles here in the Philippines to prepare,” Ochoa told CNN Philippines.
Aside from Ochoa, fellow 2019 SEA Games gold medalist and 2022 World Games bet Annie Ramirez will spearhead the Philippine campaign in the tournament slated on May 14-15.
Joining the two are Jolly Co, Jan Cortez, Marco Lim, and Carlo Peña.
Ochoa hopes the team will have a productive outing in Vietnam, as they take inspiration from the achievements of their fellow Filipino athletes who competed in last year’s Tokyo Olympics, where the country won its first-ever Olympic gold after a 97-year wait courtesy of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.
“Our promise is that we will give it our best and go all out every step of the way. We look up to our Olympic athletes who have been able to perform their best despite the challenges, and through them we see how we Filipinos flourish in adversity,” said Ochoa.
