CEBU, Philippines – The University of Cebu (UC) Eskrima Club pulled one big surprise as it amassed 33 medals broken down into 13 golds, 11 silvers and nine bronzes to win the overall championship of the Cacoy Doce Pares World Eskrima-Arnis Championships recently at the City Sports Club-Cebu.
The UC eskrimadors even humbled the bets of Supreme Grandmaster Ciriaco “Cacoy” Cañete, who just landed at second place with 10 golds, seven silvers and eight bronzes.
The third place honors went to the International Combative Martial Arts Academy (ICMAA) of Australia led by Grandmaster Vince Palumbo with eight golds, eight silvers and six bronzes.
Maximo Caballes, Jr. handed two golds for UC in the boys 12-under openweight category. The rest of the UC gold medallists were Reil Taba in 18-28 years old lightweight, John Pepito in the 18-28 middleweight, Paul Joshua Rosas in the 18-28 super middleweight, Emillio Cuevas in the 23-33 heavyweight, Noelyn Bargamento, Savones Abelgas, Christine Faith Velasquez and June Babe Caballes in the girls 13-17 bracket, Mary Niña Romales in the girls 18-33 lightweight, and the UC Demonstration Team.
Those who turned over golds for Noy Cacoy Doce Pares were Dean Michael Cañete with two golds, Robert Sabello, Christian Bag-id, Michael Escario, Danny Serundo and Andrea Wheatley and Leah Sedriosa with two golds each in the women’s 13-18 middleweight and heavyweight divisions.
Palumbo, on the other hand, had three gold medals for his ICMAA, while his students who snagged golds include John Moore also with three golds, Con Pappas and Robert Angus.
The ICMAA-Indonesia led by Glenn Gardiner placed fourth with six golds, 10 silvers and eight bronzes, while Filmocan-Cebu wound up fifth with three golds, four silvers and two bronzes.
Reflex Centre-Australia finished sixth with two golds, four silvers and four bronzes followed by Cacoy Doce Pares-Spain with two golds and one silver.
The PNP Team snatched two golds and one silver, Alarca had two golds and six bronzes, Warmer Haeart Karate Club-USA bagged one gold and one silver, the Cacoy Doce Pares-East Coast had one gold and one bronze, Filmocam-Iloilo picked up one gold, Doce Pares-New Zealand got two silvers, the Millenium School of Martial Arts-Poland of Christopher Nasilowski took one silver and two bronzes, while Nasilowski’s Australian squad grabbed two bronzes. – GGM (THE FREEMAN)