Best in 64 years

Philippines Nagoya haul: 4-9-16

NAGOYA – In the fading light of the Nagoya Games, jiu-jitsu bet Alex Enriquez pulled off a fighting silver, providing the final sparkle in Team Philippines’ most successful Asian Games run in over six decades.

The 27-year-old Fil-Am grappler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner put together a stirring run with three straight submissions before bowing to old Thai rival Orapa Senatham in the final showdown.

There were foiled bronze bids in softball, in padel and in jiu-jitsu before Enriquez pushed her fight all the way to the gold-medal match in the women’s 63kg division. She came up short but nonetheless capped Team Philippines’ solid showing in the 20th edition of the continental conclave.

At the end of the fortnight of sporting battles here, the Philippines closed out with a haul of four golds, nine silvers and 16 bronzes – the best for the country since 1962 Jakarta where the Filipino athletes had a 7-6-24 harvest.

In five previous editions, the Philippines also snared four golds but had fewer silvers and bronzes. There were 4-4-6 in 1978 Bangkok, 4-5-9 in 1986 Seoul, 4-6-9 in 2006 Doha, 4-2-15 in 2018 Jakarta-Palembang and 4-2-12 in 2023 Hangzhou.

Nine shining silvers here went with the two golds of gymnast Carlos Yulo and one each of pole-vaulter EJ Obiena and taekwondo jin Jeus Yape.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick Gregorio expressed his overwhelming pride over Team Philippines’ performance, highlighting how the country’s medal surge across 16 different sports signals a massive leap forward for Philippine grassroots and elite sports development.

“We’re very happy we won so many medals in so many sports. In China (2023 Hangzhou Asian Games), we won in 11 sports. ‘Yan po ang malaking pagbabago, at ‘yan po ang importante sa ating development ng Philippine sports, sa ating grassroots program,” Gregorio said.

Gymnastics (two golds, one bronze), taekwondo (one gold, three silvers and one bronze) and athletics (one gold and two bronzes) were the best-performing sports associations. Also delivering were jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts and sepak takraw with one silver and one bronze each. Others with contributions were 3x3 basketball (silver), boxing (silver) archery (silver), beach volleyball (bronze), esports (two bronzes), karate (two bronzes), soft tennis (bronze), surfing (bronze), tennis (bronze) and weightlifting (bronze).

Team Philippines could’ve surpassed the four-gold haul if not for close misses – particularly Carlo Paalam in boxing, Tachiana Mangin in taekwondo and Enriquez.

Enriquez’ gold-medal bout with Senatham ended in a 0-0 deadlock. Senatham won on advantages.

“Sayang dahil sobrang close,” said Enriquez, winner over Senatham in their clash in the recent Asian Beach Games.

“I had a dominant run (in the tournament) and no points were scored on me. (I got) three submissions leading to the finals and then faced a really tough opponent which I had beaten in the Beach Games. She came back with a vengeance here,” added Enriquez.

She said she had no regrets and promised to keep pushing, hoping to be able to deliver gold in the next competitions.

The Philippines’ bronze tally was pegged at 16 as the Blu Girls bowed to Chinese Taipei in softball, Danna Abad and Joshea Malazarte lost their fight for third place versus Indonesians Novela Putria and Beatrice Gumulya, 0-6, 0-6, in padel, and another jiu-jitsu bet Andrea Lois Lao bungled her own shot at the bronze against Mongolian Narankhishig Baansanjargal.

In volleyball, Alas Men wound up 13th, winning by default over Kyrgyzstan. Fighting for gold were host Japan versus Iran.

In rhythmic gymnastics, Breanna Labadan was 10th in the individual all-around ruled by Uzbek Takhmina Ikromova.

In taekwondo, -57kg contender Baby Jessica Canabal got past the Round of 16 but was stopped in the quarterfinals by Fadia Khirfan of Jordan.

Judo competition came to a close, with no Philippine bet able to make a podium finish.

As of 7 p.m. last night, China was on the way to another runaway win in the overall medal race, dominating with 167-87-80. Host Japan was second with 79-89-88 followed by South Korea, 37-43-67.

Thailand was again the best performing Southeast Asian team at sixth overall with 18-13-21. Next was Malaysia 9-5-16 then Indonesia at No. 15 overall with 5-11-23 followed by the Philippines.

The lone remaining event to be disputed is jumping event in equestrian at 9:30 a.m. Then the curtains fall on the Nagoya Asiad in elaborate closing rites, with the Games to be held next in Doha, Qatar in 2031.