THE ATENEO Blue and Lady Eagles competed in day one of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) season 79 judo championships on Saturday, November 19 at the De La Salle Zobel gymnasium in Muntinlupa City.
Blue Eagles
The Blue Eagles competed in the heavyweight events for day one, aiming to defend their championship title. After a fierce campaign fought throughout multiple matches, blue judokas Mon Tuazon and Miggy Arayata found themselves against each other in the -81kg bronze match where Tuazon came out victorious with the medal.
Alfonso Limjap, a product of the juniors program, was able to make it to the finals of the -90kg division where he fell to Carl Asenta from the University of the Philippines (UP) and was able to claim his first UAAP seniors division medal. “I didn’t get the result i wanted [gold] but I’m grateful for such a wonderful season” remarked Limjap.
The same rang true for sophomore Jaq Querubin who claimed the gold medal in last season’s -100kg finals. This season, Querubin placed silver in the same event after being defeated by Keith Reyes from De La Salle University (DLSU). Meanwhile, Raf Cadiente participated in an intense finals match against Dither Tablan from University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the +100kg division. When Tablan was declared the winner, Ateneo coaches Ali Sulit and Robert Divina contested the win and eventually the win was voided. After what seemed like a tough round 2, Dither Tablan was indeed proven the victor bringing it home for UST, while Cadiente graciously took the silver.
Lady Eagles
The Lady Eagles competed in day one’s lightweight matches. The Blue and White did not have representatives for the -44kg and -48kg divisions but participated in both the -52kg and -57kg divisions. They suffered a medal drought however on the first day with only sophomore Laura Frayna reaching the bronze matches but was eventually defeated by Freesia Heradez from DLSU. The Lady Eagles hope to end their medal drought heading into the second day of the championships.
The Lady Eagles will compete in day two’s heavyweight matches, while the Blue Eagles will compete in the lightweight matches. The blue judokas currently rank at 3rd place after day one with 17 points, trailing behind UP and UST’s 23-22 lead.
The blue judokas’ Team Captain Martel Agustin said “Things could have been better, but [I am] pretty much optimistic [about day two].” At the end of Day 1, Coach Ali Sulit added the hype to the team by exclaiming “Hanggang kaya, laban pa. Hanggang kaya pa huminga walang susuko (As long as we have not reached our limits, we will fight. As long as we are still breathing, we will not give up).”
