Vietnam Nationals’ only rival for arnis supremacy

The national arnis team is looking to once again dominate the competition when the sport makes its return to the Games with the staging of the edition in the Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) Gym Dec.1-4.

Arnis Philippines secretary-general Jun Lota expects the national team to win four of the possible six gold medals, having sized up Vietnam, which they consider their biggest rival, in the first RP-Vietnam dual meet Aug. 6-7.

The Philippines won against the Vietnamese squad despite fielding only its Team B.

"We will surely win the over-all title in this sport," Lota said.

The upcoming arnis tournament is only the second installment of the sport in the SEAG. The Philippines also dominated the sport, winning 10 of the 14 golds, when it was last included in the biennial meet in 1991.

Deputy secretary-general Richardson Gialogo expressed disappointment with the scaling down of the arnis events due to the limited budget as it could bring more medals to the country. — Don Gil Carreon