THE HAJIME! Judo tournament has been an ongoing event hosted by the Ateneo Judo Association (AJA) since its inauguration in 1996. Since then, it has gained a huge following in the local judo scene, reflected by the number of participants traveling far and wide to compete in the tournament held last Saturday, April 25 at the Blue Eagle Gym.
There was no shortage of competition for the Blue and Lady Judokas to lock horns with this year. According to Hajime! Tournament Director Martel Agustin, due to last year’s tournament not pushing through, this year’s batch brought an unprecedented number of groups itching to show their talents. These groups ranged from the staple UAAP teams based in Manila, to teams based in the provinces like Davao and Baguio, and even from abroad like Singapore and Thailand.
According to Agustin, the goal of Hajime! has been to “make the sport more popular and to increase the population and to make the community bigger. This is our way to show that ‘Hey, Judo is something worth watching.’”
The highlights of the evening for AJA were Blue Judokas Marco Lasam (-66kg) and Alfred Querubin (-81kg), both of whom competed for gold medals during the tournament.
Querubin’s match against Carl Aseneta of the Davao Masters went down the wire as both men struggled early on gaining any headway with their grip fighting. Throughout the match, there were several attempts by the two judokas to land their own throws at each other to no avail. But in the dying seconds of the match, both men struck the ground simultaneously, with Querubin able to wrap both legs around the chest of Aseneta and managing to submit his opponent via bow and arrow choke with a mere two seconds left in the match to win the gold.
“Of course I felt lucky but then, we trained a lot for it in the dojo,” Querubin said of his victory.
On the other hand, Lasam was not as lucky, losing his match against Joven Tanaown of the Ultimate Judo Fighter Club after getting two waza-aris called against him during the match. The first waza-ari came at the 2:34 mark, where a surprise counter attack by Tanaown led Lasam straight to the ground. The second waza-ari came moments later at the 2:06 mark, where Lasam was again unable to offset his opponent’s offense and finally lost the match to settle for a silver medal.
Bronze medalists for the Blue Judokas include Miggy Arayata (-73kg), Mon Tuazon and Monch Santiago (-81kg) and James Reyes and Jaq Querubin (+100kg).
Carissa Veloso (-48kg), Christine Abellanosa (-63kg), Mei Uy (-70kg) and Seanne Cheung (+78kg) were also able to win bronze medals for the Lady Judokas.
The team was not left unscathed however, as Lady Judoka Deanna Heceta fell badly on her right shoulder during her bronze medal match. She was immediately rushed to Medical City in Pasig City for treatment.
