Aguilar, Delos Reyes capture ‘Siddayao’

A three-time jiu-jitsu world champion and a gold winner in the World Wushu Championships are some of the prominent recipients making up the Tony Siddayao Awards in Monday’s San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Awards Night at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel.

Aleia Aielle Aguilar and Alexander Gabriel delos Reyes lead the compact list of athletes to be recognized with the award named after the late former Manila Standard sports editor Antonio “Tony” Siddayao, who is regarded as the Dean of Philippine sportswriting.

The five other Siddayao awardees during the 27 January formal affair presented by ArenaPlus, Cignal, and MediQuest are fencer Sophia Shekaina Catantan, swimmers Jamesray Mishael Ajido and Behrouz Mohammad Mojdeh, along with wrestlers Paul Sondrie Capinig and Marian Grace Balisme.

All Siddayao awardees will also be given medals and jackets provided by MILO.

Grandmaster Wesley So, basketball star Kiefer Ravena, Olympians Miguel Tabuena and Dottie Ardina, along with Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial are some of the past recipients of the honor for young achievers given out during the traditional awards night supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, PLDT/Smart, and Senator Bong Go, with backing by the PBA, PVL, 1-Pacman Partylist, Rain or Shine, Akari and AcroCity.

Aguilar, the charming daughter of Universal Reality Combat Championship founder and president of the Wrestling Association of the Philippines Alvin Aguilar, became a three-time world champion at age seven when she bagged the gold in the 22-kilogram class of the World Festival Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Also winning the gold in the 9th World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei was the 17-year-old Delos Reyes, who ruled the boys’ taijishan event.

Catantan, the 13-year-old sister of Olympian Sam Catantan, did the same in the 5th Southeast Asia Pacific Fencing Championship by netting the gold in the junior women’s foil individual event.

Ajido and Mojdeh made their presence felt in the pool, ditto with Balisme and Capinig in the wrestling mat.

Ajido topped the boys’ 12-14 100m butterfly in the 11th Asian Age Group Swimming Championships at the New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac, while Mojdeh, from the family of swimming champions, strung up a number of medals including the gold in the 200m backstroke of the Asian Open School Invitational Long Course Swimming Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

For his part, Capinig triumphed in the Southeast Asia Oceania Wrestling Championships in Thailand by copping the gold in the 51-kg freestyle, even as Balisme bagged the gold in the 61-kg women’s freestyle of the same tournament.