UC judokas rule whitebelt championships

The University of Cebu judokas bagged three of five gold medals at stake in last weekend’s 2nd Cebu City All-Whitebelt Judo Championships held at Robinsons Place Cebu.

The University of San Carlos Judo Club bagged the two other gold medals.

Roselle Garciano bagged the first gold for UC by topping the women’s -55 kilograms category.  The silver went to teammate Ma. Mila Flor Impis while another UC bet, Cielo Saragena bagged the bronze.

Analyn ‘Ara’ Cabalquinto led another sweep for UC by topping the +55 kilograms category for the distaff side.  Joana Gelig took the silver while Gladys Lesoy was third.

Joel Aguapasa, Jr. won the last gold for UC by ruling the men’s -72 kilograms category.  The silver went to UC’s Rey Bautro and teammate Ronest Agan was third.

Mark Lester Andoyo won USC’s first gold medal by topping the men’s +73 kilograms division after edging Albert Gloria of the Cebu City Judo Club in the final.  Gloria settled for silver while the bronze went to UC high school student Andrew Gonzalez.

In the men’s -60 kilograms class, which had close to 120 participants, Robert Mellana of USC drubbed Allan Antigua of UC to win the gold medal.  Antigua settled for the silver while USC’s Alex Roa took the bronze.

The tournament was organized by the Philippine Amateur Judo Association Cebu Chapter headed by lawyer Vicente Fernandez II.  It was co-presented by Robinson’s Place Cebu and the Cebu City Sports Commission.

Close to 200 players saw action in the two-day event, which was considered as the biggest judo tournament in this part of the country in terms of the number of participants.—NLQ