Hopes crushed

CHENGDU, China — Kaila Napolis of the Philippines settled for the silver medal after bowing to Korean world championships silver medalist Eon Ju Im, 2-2 (advantage Im), on Sunday in their women’s jujitsu -52 kilogram final event of the 2025 World Games at the Jianyang Cultural and Sports Centre Gymnasium.

Im, rated No. 4 in her country, had beaten Napolis, the 2023 World Combat Games champion, in the preliminaries and could not be denied from taking top honors.

The silver is the first medal the Philippines has won so far in the multi-nation event.

Napolis, bronze medalist in the Guangzhou Asian Games, earned the trip to the final after winning by advantage against Israel's Pnina Aronov in overtime after the round ended in a 3-3 draw.

In disadvantageous position for the majority of the fight, the Israeli staged a comeback and maneuvered for a rear-naked choke, which, fortunately, was unsuccessful, thanks to Napolis' defense crafted by his head coach and judo legend John Baylon.

In extra time, Napolis swiftly secured the first advantage on the mat, thus earning her the much-needed victory.

Annie Ramirez, the Asian Games champion, dropped two of her bouts to bid goodbye in the women's -57kg class.

She, however, could bounce back in open ne-waza category.

At the Sancha Lake Taohuadao Arena, Raph Trinidad came tantalizingly close to bagging the bronze in the cable men's wakeboard event, with only a late mistake in the final stunt preventing it from happening.

Cheered by his peers and even the Chinese crowd — with Trinidad being a big figure in the extreme water sport — the Filipino athlete had a fantastic stretch in the second run before a misread of his approach on the aerial trick proved costly to his medal ambition.

Trinidad finished fourth with 56.60 points. Frenchman Loic Deschaux topped the competition with a solid performance of 95.00 points, while Germans Max Milde (92.80) and Florian Weiherer (65.00) got the silver and bronze, respectively.

In billiards, Chezka Centeno carried the fight in women's 10-ball after Savannah Easton of the USA, 7-2. She faces hometown bet Yu Han Monday at 9 a.m.

Southeast Asian Games champion Rubilen Amit was unlucky in the preliminaries and bowed to Pia Filler of Germany, 4-7. She battles another Chinese, Shasha Liu, at 3:30 p.m.

Krizan Faith Collado defeated Elisabetta Sirto of Italy, 2-0, women's wushu sanda -52kg event at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Centre Gymnasium.