SANYA, China — As cool as the sea breeze easing the sweltering afternoon heat, jiu-jitsu bet Alexandria Enriquez stamped her class and delivered the first gold for Team Philippines in the 6th Asian Beach Games at the Sanya Bay Yuhai Club on Thursday, April 23 here.

The 27-year-old grappler, who is competing in her first multi-sport event for the Philippines, dominated Yeonji Lee of South Korea, 5-0, to cap a masterful run in the women’s -63 kilogram class.

“I feel so much pride and joy. I mean, first of all, all glory to God,” said the elated Enriquez after her gold medal win.

“We immigrated to the States when I was a very young child, 6 years old and to be able to come back and experience it as an adult and to be able to be a part of something much larger than I am is such a great honor,” she added.

She opened the competition in style, registering back-to-back submissions in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. She, however, had to dig deep in the semifinals as she advanced to the gold medal match via advantage in the sudden death.

Kaila Napolis, on the other hand, bagged the first medal for Team PH, plucking a bronze against Zhibek Kulumbetova of Kazakhstan in the women’s -52 kilogram class.

The 29-year-old Filipina grappler won via advantage in overtime following a tight contest where she had to patiently wait for the perfect opportunity to mount and pin her opponent down.

“Sobrang nakakakaba kasi bawal magkamali eh, with overtime, the first to have an advantage, siya na yung mananalo. So super tight talaga ng laban. Hindi din ako masyadong nag-risk,” said Napolis.

Other competitors Myron Mangubat, Maria Ysabel Laureta, and Santino Luis Luzuriaga were eliminated in their first round matches.

Still, the medals from the jiu-jitsu bets somehow eased the pain of the country’s rough start to the opening day of competitions as representatives from aquathlon and beach handball absorbed defeats one after another.

At the Sanya Bay Photography base, Andrew Kim Remolino clinched a 7th place finish in the men’s individual aquathlon 2.5 km run – 1 km swim – 2.5 km run.

Remolino clocked in at 30 minutes and one second, holding his ground against a stacked competition to also emerge as top finisher for the Philippine team. Teammate Matthew Hermose checked in at 18th place with a time of 33:18.

In the women’s division, the PH representatives finished within the top 15 with Erika Nicole Burgos secured 13th place (35:09.0), while Raven Faith Alcoseba followed at 15th (35:23.0).

Meanwhile, the Philippine beach handball teams, meanwhile, suffered tough defeats in the 6th Asian Beach Games at the Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster.

The men’s team just couldn’t sustain its impressive start, losing steam in the shootout against Bahrain, 2-1 to absorb its second straight defeat while the women’s side opened its bid on a wrong foot with a 2-0 loss to Hong Kong, China.