MANILA – Kaila Napolis settled for the silver medal, bowing to South Korea’s Eon Ju Im in the women’s ju-jitsu -52kg ne-waza finals at the 2025 World Games on Sunday night at the Jianyang Cultural and Sports Centre Gymnasium.
From a 2-2 deadlock in the dying seconds, Napolis attempted to push the Korean out of the mat to score the decisive point.
However, Im secured a superior position when time expired, mounting on top of the Filipina grappler to earn the winning point through positional advantage.
“I am little disappointed I did not get the crucial point. But I am still grateful I was able to represent the country here,” Napolis said.
In women’s muay thai, Rudzma Abubakar was forced to withdraw from the bronze medal match in the -47kg division after dislocating her nose in the semifinal bout against China’s Xiaohui Lui on Saturday at the Sichuan Gymnasium.
The Zamboanga City native was scheduled to face Oumaima Belouarrat of Morocco for bronze but will instead fly home to Manila for treatment from medical specialists.
Abubakar lost to the host fighter after absorbing heavy elbows to the face, prompting the referee to halt the match in the second round. She had already been nursing back pains from her earlier match against Ukraine’s Anastasiia Mykhailenko.
Asian Games champion Annie Ramirez also suffered an early exit, losing two bouts in the women’s -57kg class. She will, however, have another chance in the open ne-waza category.
In water sports, Raph Trinidad narrowly missed the bronze medal in cable men’s wakeboard after an error in his final stunt left him in fourth place with 56.60 points. Trinidad thrilled both Filipino and Chinese fans with an explosive second run, but a misread on an aerial trick dashed his medal hopes.
Loic Deschaux of France captured the gold with 95.00 points, while Germany’s Max Milde (92.80) and Florian Weiherer (65.00) took silver and bronze, respectively./PN
