YANI ALEXII LOPEZ won one of five gold medals to help the Philippine team to a second-place finish in the United World Wrestling (UWW) Asian and Oceania Grappling Championships recently in Danang, Vietnam.
Lopez defeated Malaysia’s Alison Mae Nicolson, 2-1, in the women’s 57 kgs final to highlight a successful campaign that saw the Philippines finish behind Kazakhstan, which had a 17-10-5 gold-silver-bronze haul and ahead of India (two silvers and three bronzes).
Charlie Ratcliff (56 kgs), Travis Ratcliff (62 kgs), Abe Del Rosario (57 kgs) and Denzel Alipio (62 kgs) also won gold medals, while Lucas Aguilar (66 kgs) and Nathaniel Nama (63 kgs) took silvers and Alo Turingan (73 kgs), Lucian Salud (76 kgs) and Joaquin Marte (66 kgs) bagged bronzes.
‘I am thrilled to bring another continental gold medal home,’ said the two-time Asian champion whose gold in the 57 kgs class was three divisions above her 44-kg normal category.
‘Jumping up three divisions was an unexpected challenge and I am blessed to take the top spot on the podium,’ said the Deftac HQ athlete.
Lopez thanked wrestling association president Alvin Aguilar as well as coaches Maybelline Masuda, Michael Sayson Tabamo, Bill Sullivan, Melchor Tumasis and Emily Buyco who steered the team in the tournament.
She beat Malaysian Liyanne Hedger, 1-0, in the semifinal round.