Cambodia’s 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games sensation Jessa Khan powered her way to a gold medal in the ne-waza 49kg class in the Sport JiuJitsu International World Championships.
Khan, the youngest competitor in her division, took the Long Beach Arena Convention and Entertainment Center in California by storm on Saturday by winning two gold medals.
The Texas-born wonder whose father is Cambodian and mother Mexican, belied her 5ft (152 cm) frame by overpowering some of the best in the business when it came to her preferred class, and she then moved up to the unlimited weight category to pick up another gold.
According to her father, Peter, who spoke to NOCC advisor Ken Gadaffi after her world championship success following August’s historic Asiad achievement, Khan confidently handled her fights and won six of them in all, three in each division.
Khan, who turned 17 earlier this month, has amassed a host of medals in various competitions and continues to push hard for greater glory in the sport she took up when she was barely 12 years old.
But for the always-smiling Khan, her burning desire is to bring greater glory to Cambodia, and in particular the Olympic medal that has eluded the Kingdom all these years, with the only high mark so far being Sorn Seavmey’s qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Khan became only the second athlete from the country to win an Asian Games gold medal after taekwondo star Seavmey ended a near 70-year drought at the Incheon Games in 2014.
