MMA’s Charlie Ratcliff, trackster Pi Durden Wangkay add to PH’s gold medal haul in Asian Youth Games

MMA fighter Charlie Ratcliff and trackster Pi Durden Wangkay added to the Philippines’ gold medal haul in the ongoing Asian Youth Games in Manama, Bahrain, on Saturday.

The 16-year-old Ratcliff made easy work of Nakanataphon Khaihong of Thailand in the girls’ 45-kg modern MMA event.

“It feels wonderful. There are a lot of sacrifices to win the medal, the gold medal and the silver medal,” said Charlie.

Her brother Travis claimed silver in the boys’ 60-kg traditional MMA category.

“The sacrifices of time management for school and sports are now worth it,” she added.

Meanwhile, the 16-year-old Wangkay delivered the country’s third gold medal after ruling the 200-meter dash.

Wangkay clocked 21.76 seconds to secure the gold.

“At first po, noong hindi po ako nanalo sa 100 [meters], sobrang nalungkot po ako,” said Wangkay, who finished fifth in that event.

“Napag-isipan ko po buong gabi, pauwi pa lang po. Iniba ko po ’yung mindset ko dito. In-imagine ko po na local meet lang, na deserve ko ’to,” he added.

(At first, when I didn't win the 100, it made me so sad... I thought about it all night, on the way home. I changed my mindset. I imagined this was just a local meet, that I deserved this.)

The gold medals from Ratcliff and Wangkay came after Kram Airam Carpio’s victory in pencak silat.

—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA Integrated News