Dither Joshua Tablan, a former UAAP judo champion and Philippine kurash team member was a two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player, helped the University of Santo Tomas (UST) judokas win four straight league championships. In 2021 he died of a heart attack at the age of 23.
Many described him as a “gentle giant.” Tablan, who’s also a national kurash team member, represented the country in several international tournaments including the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. He graduated from UST in 2020 with a degree in Sports and Wellness Management.
The judoka used to be bullied because he was heavy. But little did he know then that his weight would turn out to be his biggest asset.
Listed at 5-foot-10 and 175 kilograms, Tablan was the heaviest judoka in the country. He was the reigning champion in the +100kg division of UAAP judo.
As a teen he tried to engage in numerous sports—basketball, table tennis, fencing, swimming, billiards and chess—in an attempt to lose weight but to no avail.
Ferdie Balingit, the former coach of the Claret judo team, talked to Tablan to join his team, noting that Tablan’s size would be an advantage.
“I was shocked when I saw him in our judo club, he was quick to learn the sport and he was flexible even though he was bigger than the others,” Balingit said.
Balingit entered Tablan to just his second tournament, the Bro. Ceci Cup in 2015, where the then 15-year-old Tablan managed to win bronze.
Despite what he calls a “disappointing” finish, Philippine team coach Roland Llamas took notice of Tablan’s talent and asked if he could coach the hefty judoka.
Unexpected twist
After graduating from high school, Tablan, decided to focus on being an Architecture student in the University instead of taking his judo career in a whole new level.
But with athletic scholarship offers from UST, La Salle and Ateneo, the Sports and Wellness Management student decided to pursue the judoka path with UST because of his familiarity with coach Llamas.
Male Judokas head coach Steve Esteban has nothing but praises for the only heavyweight to win a gold medal for UST in a decade.
Tablan admitted that he still feels anger for what his bullies did to him but he uses that rage to excel in everything he does, after all, he knows he has no way to go but up after being down. He passed away at the age of 23.