With Olympics a distant dream, Asiad champ Ochoa looks to pro scene

Meggie Ochoa beats Balqees Abdulla of UAE to win gold. –ASIAD POOL

The only thing missing in Meggie Ochoa’s trophy case is an Olympic medal.

But with jiu jitsu’s hope of being showcased in sports’ grandest stage still a pipe dream, Ochoa will continue collecting glory elsewhere.

“I’m competing at the World Pro in Abu Dhabi around the first and second week of November,” she told the Inquirer, just a few weeks removed from her gutsy performance in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where she delivered country’s second of four gold medals.Jiu jitsu chipped in half of Team Philippines’ golden output, with Annie Ramirez also emerging champion in the continental Games.

By winning the Asiad gold, Ochoa has pretty much emerged victorious at every level of jiu jitsu. She has won gold twice in the Southeast Asian Games and also reigned supreme in the Asian Jiu jitsu Championships. She has triumphed in World Cups, too. And she has long proved her mettle in the pro stage as well, ruling two previous stagings of the showcase she will be taking part of beginning Nov. 8.

There’s no telling how far she could have gone in the Summer Games if jiu jitsu were part of the Olympic calendar. At the very least, she would have already made an appearance in Paris as her Asiad gold could have very well been an outright ticket, the way other sports used the Hangzhou event as a qualifying tournament.

“Maybe in 2032, [jiu jitsu] will have a shot,” Ferdie Agustin, the president of jiu jitsu’s national federation, said. “The sport is growing already in places like China, so if we could get big nations to rally behind it, who knows?”

For now, the 33-year-old Ochoa said she’s open to the idea of taking her talents elsewhere, like marquee events such as ONE Championship which opened its doors to submission grappling. “That would definitely be a consideration if I get any kind of offer. But I would (need) to have a good lead time because I do not train No Gi and they only have matches in No Gi for now. I only trained No Gi for this year’s SEA Games but apart from that, I’ve been mostly competing in the Gi,” she explained.

The Gi is the traditional heavyweight cloth kimono worn by jiu jitsu competitors, the very garb from which many of jiu jitsu’s techniques are anchored. The popularity of No Gi contest has grown over the years.