In the sport of Arnis, the Philippines came, saw and conquered. As a national sport, you would think that this will be a walk in the park for the Philippine team. Nevertheless, hard work and proper training paid off as the country is lead by Jesfer Huquiri, Elmer Manlapas and Carloyd Tejada gave the crowd in Angeles City, Pampanga something to be proud of. All three came on top in the men’s division of Arnis at the Angeles University Foundation Gym in Pampanga.
Huquire made comeback to edge Vietnamese Van Cong Quoc in the padded stick -55kg finals, Manlapas overwhelmed another Vietnam bet Duc Tri Nguyen in +55kg while Tejada won in the welterweight class. It would have been a sweep but Billy Joel Valenzuela in the lightweight section loss to Cambodia’s Yeng Mengly.
The Philippines won seven of the eight gold medals staked in men’s arnis combat events. After a slow, one-gold performance the day before, the women’s team came back with a vengeance as it swept all the four golds up for grabs in their division courtesy of Sheena Belmonte, Jedah Mae Soriano, Ross Ashley Monville and Abegail Abad. Abad won over Vietnam’s Thi Huong Nguyen (bantam), Soriano turned back Myanmar’s Maw Maw Oo (feather), Monville dominated Myanmar’s Moe Moe Aye (light) and Abad capped the productive day by besting Vietnam’s Thi Cucv Nguyen (welter). Team Philippines made high expectations promising the home crowd a masterful finish.
The action continues on Tuesday with the anyo (form) competition, where there will be 4 gold medals on the line.
With additional reports: The Philippines Star, Joey Villar, abs-cbn.com, Dennis Gasgonia
Photo Sources: @INQUIRERSports, @PEKAFOfficial, sports.abs-cbn.com, balita.net.ph
