Butler sweeps way to jiu-jitsu gold in Asian Youth Games

MANAMA, Bahrain — In honor of her late Filipina mom, Isabella Joseline Butler delivered a performance to remember as she ground and pounded her way to the jiu-jitsu gold medal to cap the Philippines’ historic performance in the 3rd Asian Youth Games here.

The 17-year-old Davao-born, Huntington Beach, California native was nothing short of spectacular as she swept all her matches in the girls’ -63-kilogram division that she punctuated with an impressive submission victory over United Arab Emirates’ Aysha Aljneibi via collar choke.

It was a feat that concluded a record-breaking performance in the quadrennial meet by this 141-strong delegation, which harvested a total of seven golds, seven silvers and 10 bronzes.

It included the bronze delivered by Mara-Alexandria Sarinas in the girls’ -57 kg class of the same sport that had produced this nation several Asian and world champions in the past.

Butler, who honed her fighting skills at Art of Jiu Jitsu in Newport Beach where her American father Jerry works as a black-belter instructor, said she and her mother Mary Jane dela Cruz, an immigration lawyer for human rights who passed away early this year, shared the same passion of making their home country proud.

“She always wanted me to keep the connection with my culture so we found there was a way to represent the Philippines through the sports that I love doing,” she said. “Thankfully, I was able to represent the Philippines.”

This was actually the second time Butler donned the national colors, the first came last year when she struck gold in the World Juniors Championships in Greece and she’s carrying the country’s name again as she plunges back into action in another world meet in Thailand on November 11.

“I’m going to try out for the adult team next year and compete at the Southeast Asian Games hopefully,” she said.

In all, jiu-jitsu was the fourth most productive sport sent here by the country, next only to muay (3-2-1), mixed martial arts (1-1-1) and athletics (1-1-0).

The other medal producers for the country were pencak silat (one gold), weightlifting (one silver, four bronzes), taekwondo (one silver, one bronze), swimming (one silver), boxing (one bronze) and teqball (one bronze).

There were some exceptional performances too like Alas Pilipinas, which came close to making the finals and taking home a medal in girls’ volleyball even though they came into the meet as complete underdogs.

They beat strong teams like South Korea, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei and fought gallantly in heartbreaking defeats to Iran and Thailand.

• Latest
• Trending