Philippine karate is in the limelight recently thanks to the successes of our Filipino karatekas.
At the 20th Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, the Philippines’ women’s kata team composed of Samantha Veguillas, Rebecca Cyril Torres and Ysabielle Arrogante won versus Thailand to obtain a bronze medal.
Marie June Adriano added another Asian Games bronze for the country when she dominated Ya-chi Chung of Chinese Taipei in the battle for third of the women’s kumite-50 kg event.
Back in July, a group of young karatekas excelled at the 3rd Asian Karate Youth Open Championship and Training Camp in Hangzhou, China, bagging one gold by Romeo Viktor Enriquez and one bronze by Raphael Mariano Herrera.
Other members of Philippines’ delegation in the Asian Karate Youth Open Championahip also scored formidable wins. One of them was Ripley Tate Borromeo who placed 5th in the Under 12 Kumite Individual–40 kg, and 7th in the Under 12 Female Kata Individual.
Ripley, Romeo Viktor, Raphael as well as their fellow delegates Ellis Sebastian Canoza, Colin Isaiah Paolo, Wifredo Apellido, and Ysabella Arwen Varias, from were commended by Senator Bam Aquino through Senate Resolution 580 for their good showing at the said competition.
The young karatekas met with Sen. Bam Aquino at a local cafe where the athletes were presented with the resolution.
Ripley described the commendation from Sen. Bam as “very cool.” The ten year-old girl declared, “I didn’t know that things like that existed. I think it’s good that all our hard work gets acknowledged because representing the country made me very nervous. It’s a different kind of pressure.”
Ripley started taking karate lessons when she was six years old because her parents wanted her to learn self defense. She also tried other sports, specifically swimming and football. At eight years old (or two years into karate), Ripley decided to stick to it and drop the other sports. “I fell in love with karate,” the young girl explained.
In the four years so far of being a karateka, she’s secured significant wins: 5th Place, Under 12, Kumite Individual -40kg and 7th Place, Under 12 Female Kata Individual – 3rd Asian Karate Youth Open Championship; China 2025 Grand Champion, Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation, 8-9 years old Kata Gold, Kumite, 8-9 years old, 6th Manuel Veguillas Philippine International CompetitionGold, ISKF Nationals 2025Gold, Mandaue City Open Karate Championship 2025
Ripley trains at least thrice a week, for two to.three hours per session. “If I’m training for a big competition, I train twice a day and have one-on-one sessions with my Sensei,” Ripley revealed.
Sensei is Engene Dagohoy, Ripley’s mentor at Fight Alliance Sports Team (FAST)–ISKF and also the coach of the Philippine national karate team.
“Sensei Engene is inspiring and he’s a good coach because he helps me become better,” said Ripley.
Mom Eileen is truly proud of the fine young lady that Ripley has become. “Karate has made her resilient, patient, and allows her to demonstrate leadership skills, like when she leads the class for warm up/cool down or teaches the younger students. I’ve also seen her bounce back from losses that she took badly and just pick herself up and train harder.”
With another major competition coming up — the Batang Pinoy in December where she is representing Pasig City for the 10-11 years old Female Intermediate Kumite — there is no stopping Ripley from training harder and aiming higher.
“I want to get into the National Team and get a gold in important competitions both locally and internationally,” she said. “I also want to be able to train with Grace Lau (Kata) and Gong Li (Kumite) someday.”
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