SOUTHEAST Asian Games gold medalists Maggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez lean a seven-athlete team that will compete starting on Wednesday in the Jiu-Jitsu International Federation World Championships at the Jiu Jitsu Arena in Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Ramirez said they are competing for the first time in two years or since their successful 2019 SEA Games campaign that netted the team five gold, three silver and three bronze medals.
“We’ll just do our best. We can’t guarantee anything because we haven’t competed for almost two years,” Ramirez said. “It’s our first tournament during the pandemic.”
The tournament started last November 3, but they will start competing on Wednesday at 9 a.m. (UAE time) and on Thursday.
Aside from Ochoa (-48 kgs) and Ramirez (57 kgs), the women’s team is composed of Jollirine Co (-48 kgs) and 2019 SEA Games silver medalist Jenn Napoles (-52 kgs).
The men’s team includes SEA Games gold medalist Angelo Carlo (-56 kgs), Marc Alexander Lim (-69 kgs) and Luigi Ladera (-94 kgs).
They are coached by Alexander Sulit.