Grospe nails high jump gold; third PH win stalled by weather

Leonard Grospe of the Philippines rules the men’s high jump in the Asian Beach Games. —POC MEDIA POOL

SANYA—Bad weather delayed an All-Filipino gold medal match pitting Annie Ramirez and Thompson in women’s 57-kilogram class in jiu-jitsu of the sixth Asian Beach Games, which would have meant two more medals for the PH contingent at Sanya Bay Yuhai Club on Friday afternoon.

Leonard Grospe just captured the Philippines’ second gold medal before the Ramirez-Thompson final was called as the 24-year-old ruled the men’s high jump competition on a cold and rainy morning at Phoenix Island.

Grospe cleared 2.05 meters on his first attempt to beat Chinese Taipei’s Po-Ting Yeh and Hao Zhang of China, who settled for the silver and bronze, respectively.

Grospe added another golden highlight to Team Philippines’ campaign, reinforcing the country’s strong showing in the continental showpiece making its comeback after a decade.

“I am so happy because this is unexpected,” Grospe said in Filipino as all entries had to endure the slippery runaway. “This is my first time doing high jump on the beach. So, I needed to adjust because it was so slippery.”

Leading up to the final, Ramirez and Thompson plowed through the competition with quick submission wins before needing to dig deep in the semifinal.

Ramirez, a two-time Asian Beach Games gold medalist, endured a tough battle against Mongolia’s Shurentsetseg Ehnkhmunkh, needing all five minutes to claim victory via points, 5-2, before Thompson engaged in a fiery match against UAE’s Shamsa Alameri that went down to the wire, 4-2, to take the second spot in the gold medal round.

The result thus assured two more medals for jiu jitsu after Alex Enriquez and Kaila Napolis on Thursday cinched gold and bronze, respectively, in their divisions to put the Philippines on the board.

Earlier in the day, Team Philippines struggled to get anything going in the men’s division, with multiple athletes suffering losses.

Flag bearer Yman Baluyo suffered an early exit in the men’s 69kg, when he was submitted by Mahmudjon Nazrizoda in their Round of 32 matchup.