KUALA LUMPUR Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2017 champion Filipino-Japanese Mariya Takahashi returned to action and captured two gold medals within one week in separate judo tournaments in Japan following her debacle in the World Junior Judo Championships held in Croatia last month.
The 16-year-old ace, only child of Japanese Tomoki and Lynlyn, a native of Mapawa, Maragusan, Compostela Valley Province, annexed the girls 63-kilogram (kg) division title of the Takasagu Hyogo-Ken All Senior High School Tournament held Saturday, November 18. She bested four opponents to rule the event.
The feat came on the heels of clinching a girls 63 kg gold in a Kyoto judo tournament held November 12.
Takahashi, a senior high school student at Shukugawa Gakuin Hyogo, said she focused on her own game.
"I concentrated on my own combination," Takahashi said in a Facebook interview through her mother as interpreter.
She said it was her fourth year to compete in the Takasagu Hyogo-Ken All Senior High School Tournament, adding, "My final bout was the toughest for me."
However, she said, "I'm very happy for winning today. I'll do my best for the next tournaments."
She is set to see action in the Tokyo Grandslam on December 3 and the Hong Kong Asian Open on December 9.
Judo is among the priority sports of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Takahashi along with Kiyomi Watanabe are part of the "special ops" that PSC chairman William "Butch" Ramirez was referring to.
Dabawenyo Philippine Sports Institute (PSI) national training director Marc Edward Velasco, who is currently in California with Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz and the national weightlifting team set to compete in the World Weightlifting Championships, was tasked to spearhead the high performance training of identified elite athletes who are hoped to win the country's first gold medal in the Olympics in 2020.
Takahashi, who studied first and second grades in Panabo City before going to Japan, bowed out in the Round of 16 in the World Junior Judo Championships.