CEBUANO amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Joel “Mariposa” Zaspa made history, after bagging the bronze medal in the 75-kilogram division in Muay Thai in the Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand.
Zaspa is the first Filipino to win a bronze medal in the Muay Thai 75-kilogram division and he is being eyed to represent the Philippines in the Olympics.
The second year Maritime student of the University of Cebu-METC was discovered during the Bakbakan Sa Sugbo’s Muay Thai grassroots development program of the Cebu City Sports Commission at the Cebu City Sports Institute (CCSI) in Barangay Sawang Calero earlier this year.
“I saw his potential of becoming a great Muay Thai fighter. Usually, the Muay Thai Philippine team does not have fighters in his weight category, but after this success, we are considering now to add players in our roster on same weight as Zaspa,” said Philippine Muay Thai team head coach Edzel Ngina during the press conference yesterday at the CCSC office.
Zaspa fought in CCSI’s Bakbakan sa Sugbo, which was also promoted by MMA patron and YawYan ArDigma Cebu Master Benigno “Ekin” Caniga.
Ngina, who started coaching the country’s Muay Thai national team in 1999, said that Zaspa’s achievement is among the biggest of the entire team’s history.
Zaspa became a national team member only in October and trained only for three weeks for the Beach Games.
“Next year, I would have more time to train. I will really prepare for the next
competitions,” said Zaspa.
Ngina said that Zaspa is one of his selections to represent the country in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
“We got two slots for the Olympics and I highly recommend Zaspa to be our Muay Thai representative,” added Zaspa.
Muay Thai will be included as a demo sport in 2016.
Next year, Zaspa will see action in the Asian Championships in Kazahkstan, the World Championships in Poland and the King’s Cup in Thailand.
There were 46 countries that joined the Asian Beach Games and 21 competed in the Muay Thai event.
CCSC chairman Edward Hayco commended the success of Zaspa.
“I am very proud of him. We have dedicated the CCSI to focus on hardcore sports like MMA, boxing, Muay Thai and weightlifting even though it raise some eye brows, but it already produced champion athletes like Zaspa. Our main mission is to get those children who are wandering the streets of the barangays surrounding the facility into these sports. We want to promote discipline and to mold them to become successful sportsmen in the future.” Said Hayco.
He told Zaspa to teach and inspire the children practicing at the CCSI.
Meanwhile, the 10-year-old MMA Cebuano sensation Ken Caniga will also compete in the King’s Cup next year.
According to Ngina, he selected Caniga to become part of the national team that will compete in the World Youth Championships next year but first he has to win a medal in the upcoming Batang Pinoy National Finals in Bacolod next week.