Fierre Afan and and Maria Aisa Ratcliff made the country proud by topping their respective divisions in the recent 2023 United World Wrestling (UWW) United World Grappling Asian Championships over the weekend at the Beeline Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Showing tremendous poise and power, Afan captured the gold medals in both junior grappling U-20 71 kg no gi event and the 71kg gi class.
In topping the U-20 event, he bested all four opponents, including Kazakhstan world champion Artem Khvan in the final, 9-2, for his first gold.
He secured a 3-0 win in gi 71kg event over Meiirbek Yeskazyyev also of Kazakhstan to cap his dominant show.
Afan, 19, also captured two silver medals in the senior 71 kg class.
Ratcliff, 34, dominated the gi and no gi women’s seniors 53 kg class for two gold medals after sweeping all her four opponents in both her brackets ˗ highlighted by her final battle with Kazakhstan’s Alina Kaskinova whom she beat by 6-5 via points in the gi category.
Wrestling Association of the Philippines (WAP) President Alvin Aguilar expressed gratitude to his fighters for giving their best and making a history especially to Afan for beating a world champion in his first fight.
“Fierre [Afan] beat a world champion in his first fight. It’s a great performance of our athletes. We’re very happy with the results, but we will not be taking a break and will still be training in preparation for the upcoming World Championships,” Aguilar said.
“I believe the performance of our athletes in that tournament will inspire more athletes to continue their training to be in a world class level, not only that but to win gold every time they compete,” Aguilar added.
Aguilar’s two sons Lukie and Lucho also took home two medals each. Lukie got silvers in no gi and gi boys’ U-17 competitions while brother Lucho had a silver in no gi and a bronze medal in gi U-15 division.
Other medalists were Vince Ortiz (bronze in senior men’s gi 62 kg) and Michael Tabamo (bronze men’s grappling 62 kg).
