MARTIAL arts aces led by Carlos Baylon Jr. of wushu took the cudgels for Philippine sports last April.
Baylon delivered a breakout performance in the IWUF 10th Sanda World Cup in Jiangyin, China, where he anchored a one-gold, two-bronze haul for the country.
Competing in the men’s 56 kg class, Baylon kicked things off with an upset of Macau’s Hio Lam Ku, a bronze medalist in the 2024 Wushu World Championship, in the semis 2-1. He then sealed his biggest achievement to date with a 2-0 shutout of Uzbekistan’s Saydullo Abdurashitov in the finals.
The roaring triumph earned for the proud son of La Carlota City recognition as the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s top performer of the month.
Sambist Sydney Sy Tancontian and para taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin joined Baylon in the honor roll, as did the bronze-winning surfing team in the ISA World Longboard Championship in El Salvador and the kickboxing delegation that copped eight golds, four silvers, and 10 bronzes in the 1st Thailand Kickboxing World Cup in Bangkok.
Sy Tancontian reigned supreme in the Asia and Oceania Sambo Championships in Uzbekistan, beating Mongolia’s Ser-Ochir Buyanzaya, 3-0, in the sport sambo adult women’s +80kg division title bout.
Her golden effort, which was complemented by Aislinn Yap’s conquest of women’s -80kg combat play and Richmond Revina’s silver in the men’s -64kg SVI-1 sport sambo category, propelled Sy Tancontian to No. 1 in world rankings.
Ganapin, a veteran of the Paris Paralympics, bagged the bronze medal in the men’s K44 -80kg category in the 7th World Taekwondo President’s Cup–Asian Region in Tai’an, China.
Pinoy surfers finished third in the WLC’s team competition with 2288 points behind winner France (2865) and runner-up USA (2335), even as Jay-R Esquivel took the bronze in the men’s individual play.
World No. 4 pole vaulter EJ Obiena booked a victory in Chinese Taipei while tennis sensation Alex Eala continued to make her mark in the WTA.
Obiena overcame foggy conditions and cleared 5.50 meters to beat American Matt Ludwig (5.30m) for the Taiwan International Pole Vault Championship’s top honors.
After her historic run in last month’s Miami Open spiked by stunning reversals over three grand slam champions, including No. 2 Iga Swiatek, Eala cracked the Top 100 at 75th from 140th and even climbed to new highs of 73rd and 72nd in April. She is now ranked 70th in the world.
The 19-year-old Pinay competed as top seed in the Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal, reaching the Round of 32, then got off to a winning start in the WTA 1000 Madrid Open with a 6-3, 6-2 disposal of No. 64 Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria before bowing to Swiatek in the next round 6 -4, 4-6, 2-6.
