By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
With the retirement of the well-decorated Meggie Ochoa, Annie Ramirez will have her hands full in the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya slated next month.
Her biggest mission is to defend her crown, while the other is figuring out how she can best inspire the rest of the Philippine jiu-jitsu team to rise to the challenge in order to duplicate or better their two-gold haul at the delayed Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago.
The concern of many is that Ramirez, a three-time world and Asian champion, will be competing in the women’s -52kg, a lower weight division from -57kg where she won the gold medal the last time.
It was also in the same -57kg where she reigned in the 2026 Abu Dhabi and 2025 Bangkok world championships.
Ochoa, an Ateneo graduate, officially retired from competition last year, and she is now handling the national juniors team.
She is embracing the challenge of having to go down the weight class, where she will also compete against teammates and 2022 Asian Games bronze medalist Kaila Napolis.
Also in the team is four-time world champion Kimberly Custodio, who will be debuting in the regional meet.
Like Ramirez, the 39-year-old Custodio will be competing in a different weight class at women’s -48kg, three kilograms heavier than the -45kg division where she won the world championships.
Also competing in the women’s division are Jollirine Co (-48kg), and Alexandra Enriquez and Andrea Lao (-63kg).
Completing the cast are men’s standouts Myron Mangubat and Santino Luzuriaga (-62kg), Marc Alexander Lim and Yman Baluyo (-69kg), Antonio Dy and Mark Constance Vergel (-77kg), Vito Luis Luzuriaga and David Miranda (-85kg), and Romeo John Arellano (-94kg).
