08/05/2026
𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 🏅🔥
Just two weeks after the UAAP Season 88 Judo Tournament, our judokas are back on the mats in pursuit of greatness. On the 𝟮𝟲𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲, six delegates competed at the first leg of the 𝗡𝗖𝗥 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗼 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗡𝗖𝗥𝗝𝗔) 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 held at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Manila.
Among them, up-and-rising Josef (Boie) Gonzales secured the first win and podium finish of his judo career in the men’s -81 kg division with an astounding soto-makikomi ippon within the first few seconds of his third round-robin match.
Returning from a long hiatus, Seann Mendoza also bagged his first podium finish (third place) in the men’s -90 kg division, surviving a golden score match that lasted 12 minutes. An even longer golden score match of 13 minutes was won by Hans Jordan via wazari in the men’s -60kg division, clinching another podium finish for the team.
Facing judo veterans, fresh fighters Tanja Escalona and Mikaella (Mikey) Luna showed fearless tenacity, with the latter having accomplished an osoto on her first match– definitely delegates to look out for in the tournaments to come!
And on the culminating match, graduating senior Rica Escalada bagged one last podium finish (second place) in the women’s -57 kg division, adding to her accolades on the mats before moving on to a bigger stage at the Blue Eagle Gym this coming June.
