Arnis pros lobby for SEA Games inclusion
CEBU CITY: Arnis professionals, especially those from this city, hope that 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games host Vietnam will reconsider including the Philippines’ national martial art and sport in the list of sporting events to be held in Hanoi from Nov. 21, 2021 to Dec. 2, 2021.
One such Cebuano arnis practitioner, who laments the current exclusion of the sport, is SEA Games gold medalist, Dexter Bolambao.
“For me, I’m saddened with that news, but I always think positive and hope that the decision of Vietnam will change and include arnis in the 2021 SEA Games,” said Bolambao in an exclusive interview with TheManilaTimes.
Arnis is more popularly known as eskrima in the Visayas, and its practitioners are called eskrimadors.
The 24-year-old eskrimador, who first experienced the sport in a physical education class, shone with gold in the 30th SEA Games, winning in the men’s full-contact bantamweight division in December last year.
The arnis team won a total of 14 gold medals with six silvers and two bronzes to help the Philippines clinch its second overall championship in the 11-nation sporting conclave.
The eskrimadors suffered a huge blow, however, when Vietnam slashed the sport from the SEA Games list, replacing it with the traditional Vietnamese martial art, Vovinam.
Bolambao, who was also a citation awardee during the Philippine Sports Association Awards Night, said the arnis community is ready to do everything and will thread the needle for the sport to be included.
“Kahitdumaanpakamisabutasng karayom (Even if we have to pass through the eye of the needle) for us to compete because what we are preparing right now on our program is for [the] SEA Games. Our president Juan Miguel Zubiri is also working hard to bring us back to [the] SEA Games,” said the BS Mechatronics graduate from Cebu Technological University.
Zubiri, the Philippine Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (Pekaf) president and chairman, has lobbied the inclusion of arnis through a letter to Vietnam’s head of sports, reminding the host nation that they, too, are strong contenders in the sport with a 4-10-6 goldsilver-bronze haul last year.
Pekaf executive vice president Gerald Cañete said that not only the Philippines, but the entire arnis community in the SEA region is saddened by Vietnam’s decision to exclude the sport.
“Even the eskrima/arnis community in Vietnam also want[s] to have our sport [in] their hosting of the Games. Cambodia is also lobbying to help us. In fact, more countries signified their eagerness to participate in [arnis] for Vietnam’s hosting of the Games,” said Cañete in a separate interview.
He stressed that the sport is already growing in terms of popularity and following in the SEA region and that it is an extremely inexpensive sport to host. In fact, it was the least costly sport during the 30th SEA Games held in the Philippines.
“We are thankful for Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) support for lobbying and pushing for eskrima/arnis to be included in the [SEA] Games. We are also in close communication with the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC),” said Cañete. “It is our hope, as soon as it is possible, [that] we can visit Vietnam together with PSC and POC to speak with their NOC (national Olympic committee) and government.”