Phl grapplers top world jiu-jitsu meet

Brielle Bartolome leads 15 other Filipino jiu-jitsu fighters in dominating the Sports Jiu-jitsu International Federation World Championship in Nagoya, Japan recently.

Competing in the kindergarten featherweight division, Bartolome beat Peng Nian of China via armbar to win the gold medal in the no gi category.

Then, she outpointed Nishimoto Wakana of Japan to win the gold medal in the gi category of the kindergarten rooster-weight division.

Also dominating the field was youth light featherweight no gi fighter Marcus dela Cruz, who dominated all of his opponents en route to the gold medal.

Youth gi featherweight champion Cesca Lepiten also submitted all her opponents to capture the title, winning her last two, including the final against Kimura Alana Liu via armbar in the second round.

Pre-teen no gi middleweight Thiago Bartolome also submitted his way to the championship after forcing Laptev Maksim to tap out after an Americana hold.

Also going home as champions were Claudia Lepiten in the toddler gi light featherweight, Tessa Joson in the junior teen featherweight, Ali Joson in the kindergarten no gi rooster-weight, Tomas Joson in the youth rooster-weight, Ethan Ramos in the pre-teen lightweight, and Uno Ordona in the pre-teen medium heavyweight.

Represented by DEFTAC, the Philippines competed against jiu-jitsu bets from the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil and Hong Kong.

All the medalists are members of the Wrestling Association of the Philippines-RP junior grappling team.

“I am very happy that our Philippine junior grappling team, composed of different DEFTAC chapters, are showing everyone how hard they work and how good they really are,” DEFTAC president Alvin Aguilar said.