Ateneo dominates UAAP judo tourney

Ateneo de Manila dominated the men’s and juniors division even as University of Santo Tomas reigned supreme in the women’s category of the just concluded UAAP Season 73 judo competition held at the San Juan Arena over the weekend. Four Ateneo judokas led by season MVP and half lightweight Christian Velasco harvested gold medals for the Loyola based-squad. The Blue Eagles also won three silver medals and a bronze to edge runner-up University of Santo Tomas, which went home with three gold, a silver and two bronze medals. Overall, Ateneo tallied 57 points to clinch the title while UST amassed 39 points followed by De La Salle with 24 points. Aside from Velasco, other gold medalists for Ateneo were extra lightweight Jhonel Ryan Falenar, half middleweight and rookie of the year awardee Angelo Gabriel Gumila and heavyweight Matthew Simon Jao. The victory was Ateneo’s fourth overall men’s judo crown and is now tied with UP as the second winningest team in the league. UST has the most number of championships with eight. Lightweight Nash-yale Tagle, middleweight Alexis Albor and half heavyweight Benjamin Jeptha Tan were the gold medalists from UST. In the distaff side, the UST Tigresses spearheaded by MVP and lightweight Annie Ramirez dethroned perennial champion University of the Philippines. UST garnered 42 points compared to UP’s 35 points as the España-based squad won its third overall title. Other gold medal winners for UST were extra lightweight Shaelale Bello, half middleweight Jewel Anne de Castro and middleweight Setsuko Ando. - RCJ, GMANews.TV