Viets’ arnis success due to Pinoy trainer

Vietnam’s success in arnis may, in part, be due to a Filipino.

The Vietnamese team has a Filipino, Roel Gatmundon, in its coaching staff as part of Arnis Philippines effort to promote the native Filipino martial arts to its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Gatmundon, a native of Tagkawayan, Quezon, revealed that he was able to land the odd job after being picked by the arnis NSA to assist in the training of the Vietnamese squad upon the request of the Vietnam Olympic Committee for Filipino expertise.

The two-time kali arnis world champion said his job is a win-win situation for the Philippines but admits to being torn between seeing his countrymen being defeated by people he trained and the promotion of the native Filipino sport.

"Maybe we are losing to them but they are deriving their knowledge from a Filipino," Gatmundon said.

Gatmundon spent nine months in Vietnam training their arnis team in the rigors of the sport. He attributed the Vietnamese team’s improvement on the discipline and commitment of the players.

Gatmundon also said that his participation in the training of the Vietnamese squad belies accusations that Filipinos are not being fair in the staging of the Games. — Don Gil Carreon