EVEN in the absence of outstanding Filipino-Japanese judokas Kiyomi Watanabe and Mariya Takahashi, the national judo team is still keen on bringing home the bacon from the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games, according to Philippine Judo Federation president Ali Sulit.
“Even with two of our gunners (Watanabe and Takahashi) sidelined, we think we can have three golds, two silvers and a few bronzes,” Sulit said of the Nationals, who swing into action on May 18-22 at the Hoai Duc Sporting Hall in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
Both based in Tokyo, Watanabe and Takahashi won two of the country’s three gold medals in the 2019 30th Southeast Asian Games, the other coming from Shugen Nagano, on top of the one silver and nine bronze medals the PH judokas won at the Laus Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Judo secretary general Dave Carter said that Watanabe, a Tokyo Olympic Games veteran and four-time SEA Games gold medalist in the women’s 63-kilogram division, suffered a severe knee injury during training while Takashi, a back-to-back SEA Games gold medalist, has to fulfill some academic requirements.
“We were priming Kiyomi for the Hangzhou Asian Games, but that has now been postponed,” Carter said.
Nonetheless, Sulit and Carter are hoping that the present squad would pick up the slack in the Vietnamese capital.
Among those that Carter is banking on to deliver are Shugen and brother Keisei, who copped a bronze medal in the 2019 SEA Games, and fellow Filipino-Japanese bets Rena Furukawa and Megumi Delgado, who are vying in the women’s -57 and -63-kg. class, respectively.
“The Nakano siblings, Rena and Megumi will be there to augment the medal output to the national team,” Carter said.
Sulit refused to sell the homegrown talent short, noting that male judokas Daryl John Mercado, Bryn Quillotes and John Viron Ferrer had trained just as hard and could pull off some surprises in Hanoi.
Ma. Jeanalane Lopez, Leah Jane Lopez and Khrizzie Pabulayan are also just as hungry to win golds for the country, the judo chief said.
Since the Vietnam SEA Games would be the national team’s first international exposure in a long while, included in the squad are also Carl Dave Aseneta and Dylwynn Keith Gimena, who will be fighting in the mixed team event, according to Sulit.
Sulit said the country will also field entries in the kata (forms) events with Alvin Mendoza and Daryl John Mercado in the men’s division and Andrea Camille Divina, Gimena, Joemarie and King Jewel Rafael in the women’s class.
