Judoka Kiyomi Watanabe earns 3-peat title after bagging gold in 2017 SEA Games

Filipino-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe on Saturday won her third straight judo gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games.

Watanabe once again emerged on top of the Women's Under 63kg in the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia, a feat she had done in the past two SEA Games in 2013 and 2015.

Her latest victory earned the Philippines its 17th gold medal.

#SEAGames2017 #Judo Women's Under 63kg pic.twitter.com/kaIqfxUUbG

— SEA Games 2017 (@SEAGames2017) August 26, 2017

Watanabe, whose mother hails from Mandaue, Cebu, currently ranks 27 (middleweight) in the world.

In three days, August 29, Watanabe will fly to Hungary to compete in the World Judo Championship.

Watanabe is competing at the 2017 SEA Games, fresh from her gold medal victory in the Asian Judo Championship held in Taipei, Taiwan, where she beat two veteran Japanese judokas.

Last February, Watanabe bagged a bronze medal in the Paris Judo Grand Prix.

Other medals

Meanwhile, Watanabe's fellow judokas Shugen Nakano and Keisei Nakano each bagged a bronze medal in the Judo Men's Under 66kg and Men's Under 73kg, respectively.

The Philippines is also taking home a tennis bronze medal in the Mixed Double. — MDM, GMA News