A Grade 10 student from Ateneo de Iloilo (AdI) made the country proud after bagging a silver and bronze medal in the United World Wrestling Grappling World Championships Cadets & Juniors UFA 2021 in Ufa, Russia over the weekend.
David Zaldarriaga, 15, showed a promising performance in the world arena, clinching a bronze medal in the under 42-kilogram division of the No-Gi (no uniform) competition on Friday, Aug. 13.
He duplicated his winning streak by snatching a silver in the 39-kilogram category of the freestyle wrestling or Gi competition on Saturday evening (Sunday in the Philippines, Aug. 15).
For David’s father, Zony, he said his son really did a great job as he just not represented the country in one of the prestigious grappling tournaments but winning two medals for the team. Zony is also the head of Deftac Ribeiro Jiu-jitsu-Iloilo.
David is a member of the Team Iloilo Jiu-Jitsu University, affiliated with Deftac Ribeiro Jiu-jitsu-Philippines. He is one of the five Filipino athletes who competed in the two-day event along with teammates Fierre Afan, Joaquin Antonio Marte, Lucas Aguilar, and Gabriel del Rosario.
Del Rosario got the country’s other silver in the competition, while Aguilar, Marte, and Afan settled for bronze medals in their respective events.
The country took home a total of two silver and four bronze medals for the third overall ranking.IMT
