All set for Doce Pares events Congress, tournament and inauguration of Eskrima Temple already in place

CEBU, Philippines - Eskrimadors coming from 16 countries including host Philippines will convene in the Queen City of the South starting July 21 for the highly-ancitipated 4th Doce Pares World Congress and Invitational Tournament at SM City-Cebu.

At least 40 foreign stick-fighters have already confirmed their participation in the week-long event and a total of 150 participants are competing for gold in this knockout system of tournament.

The participants in this twin Doce Pares events come from United States, Indonesia, England, Ireland, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Greece, Korea, Belgium, Holland, Australia, Reunion Island, France, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Doce Pares Supreme Grandmaster Dionisio Cañete said during yesterday's weekly SCOOP-Cebu Forum at Baseline Restaurant that there is actually only one day of competition on July 22 at the SM Event Centre from 1 pm to 7 pm. The main highlight of the multi-nation gathering is the inauguration of the Eskrima Temple on July 26 at 4 pm.

SGM Cañete claimed that the Eskrima Temple located in their sprawling lot in Brgy. Busay is historic and housed at a top-of-the-line facilities. It is only the second martial arts temple in the world next to the Kung Fu Temple in China. 

Aside from the blessing of the temple, the three-storey Doce Pares World Headquarters will also be opened. The Cañetes also owned some other facilities such as the Doce Pares Mountain Training Park, Doce Pares Beach Resort in Badian and a zipline adventure park.

Along with Cañete who graced the SCOOP-Cebu affair were two foreign arnisadors in Shane Redmond of Vancouver, Canada and Roby de Hondt of Belgium. The two foreign guests demonstrated their skills in the multi-system Filipino martial art.

After the tour-nament, they will stay for a couple of weeks to continue training.

Cañete said there could have been more participants had the schedule was not altered upon the election of his son Architect Gerald Cañete as the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (WEKAF) president in Mexico recently.

 Next year, Cañete said they are expecting more than 1,000 enries from 36 nations. (FREEMAN)