ROMEO VICTOR ENRIQUEZ topped the under-10 male kumite category and Wifredo Apelledo retained his under-14 male kata title in the recent Third Asian Karate Youth Open Championships and Training Camp in Hangzhou, China.
A fourth-grader at Ateneo de Manila, Enriquez, 9 and fighting out of Fight Alliance Sports Team (FAST)-International Shutokan Federation (ISKF) also finished in the top five of the under-10 male kata (+40 kgs) event.
Apelledo, 11 of AAKR Karatedo, also claimed the silver medal in the under-12 male kumite (-45 kgs) in the tournament that also saw 13-year-old Raphael Mariano Herrera, a Grade 7 student at Abba’s Orchard, winning a second straight under-14 male kata bronze medal.
Ten-year-old Ripley Borromeo of Keys School Manila, meanwhile, was in the top five of the under-12 female kata and seventh in the female kumite.
‘We are extremely proud of what these young athletes,’ said the team’s coach, Engene Dagohoy, a Southeast Asian Games medalist. ‘Their medals are the result of countless hours of disciplined training, sacrifice and unwavering determination.’
The tournament drew athletes from China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Macau, China, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Uzbekistan.
‘The future of Philippine karate is in good hands. These children have shown they can compete-and win-against the best young karatekas in Asia,’ Dagohoy said.
Ellis Cañoza, 11, and Colin Paolo, 10, also joined the team, as well as Ysabella Arwen Varias of AAKR.