Cherry May Regalado, from upset champ to a rising phoenix

Vancouver, BC – From an upset Pencak Silat SEA Games bronze medalist, Cherry May Regalado is now becoming a rising phoenix, journeying through new heights, new adventures, and new sets of successes.

Regalado, 28, of Kalibo, Aklan in the Central Philippines, earned the bronze medal during the 18th Asian Games held in Jakarta in 2018. She competed against several Asian counterparts in the sport of Pencak Silat in the women’s singles category. 

Pencak Silat is an Indonesian sport of self-defense.

She tried her best to win a gold medal in her host country, the Philippines in 2019, but she suffered a knee injury, a week before the actual competition. 

Regalado was also a second-runner-up beauty queen in 2017 for the Miss Kalibo Ati-Atihan Pageant. This incident greatly upset Regalado to achieve the ‘SEA Games’ gold dream as it shattered.

The Pencak silat champ got depressed by the tragedy. Several years after her hiatus, Regalado is now back in the limelight, this time in the field of education. She now is studying her second college degree in Hospitality Management at the Acsenda School of Management in Vancouver.

Back in her fighting prowess again as a stranger in a faraway land, Regalado was recently named by the said prestigious school as the student brand ambassador.

She is also a favorite host, being invited by the Filipino-American communities in Vancouver during special events. Regalado earned her confidence in public speaking by not only answering answers from the media during her Asian athletic competitions, but she also worked as a disc jockey at Energy FM, a local radio station in Kalibo.

Despite the history of her knee injury, she also succeeded in climbing Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver, a 4,100-foot peak mountain, twice.

With her motivation and fighting spirit back in place, Regalado can now be called a rising Phoenix  raising the banner of being a true Filipina, having courage, being brave, and fighting despite facing a series of unfortunate events.