SEAG Wushu Team at SCOOP
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 22 Oct 2011
Virtually made up of recent World Championship campaigners, the Philippine Wushu team looks capable of upholding the winning tradition the martial arts sport has established in the 26th edition of the Southeast Asian Games this November in Indonesia.
Headed by men?s division gold medalist Dembert Arcita, who ruled the 52-kilogram category in Sanda (combat) in the 2011 world tourney in held Ankara, Turkey early this month, the Filipino wushu aces stand to at least improve on the two-gold medal harvest their predecessors fashioned out two years ago in Laos.
?A minimum of four gold medals would be easy, I think, ? head coach Samson Co, the first and only Filipino to have won back-to-back gold medal in the world tilt, assessed during yesterday?s SCOOP Sa Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.
?We will be missing Jessie (Aligaga, the other gold medal winner in the Ankara soujourn) , but I believe our silver and bronze medalists in Turkey can fill in the void left by him,? Co said during the forum, sponsored by Coca Cola Export, FILA, TV 5 and UNTV.
Aligaga?s favorite event, the 48-kg. division, also in Sanda, has been scratched by the Indonesian SEA Games Organizing Committee, according to Co, along with the women?s 52-kg class of silver medalist Mary Jane Estimar, also in combat play.
?It could have been easier sana kung hindi tinanggal yung dalawang event, kasi potential four gold medals na adding Mariane?s (Mariano) sa women?s 56-kg level,? Co, winner of the gold medal in the 1991 and 1993 editions of the world championships, explained. ?Nothing to worry though, kasi marami tayong pagkukunan, like the four of our bronze-medal production.?
Co was referring to the third place finishes of Rhea Rifani, Benjie Rivera and Mark Eddiva, all in sanda, and Daniel Parantac, (taolu or form).
?All of them can transform their bronze medal finishes into gold medals, kasi they all beat their rivals from Southeast Asian nations in the last world championships. Kaya ang paniwala namin, tatabo tayo ng ginto sa SEA Games,? he said.
Co though expressed opinion that the Philippines? finest moment in the biennil meet, 1991 Games (11 gold medals) and 2005 (10 gold medals) will be hard to duplicate because other Southeast Asian neighbors have also improved in the martial arts sport.
?Besides, the team we are fielding in taolu is practically a new one, except for Daniel (Parantac), Co, who was also accompanied by fellow world championship gold medalist Mark Robert Rosales, the team?s trainer, and Chinese coaches Tong Qinghai and Fan Yi Jie to the session, said.
Qinghai, Co disclosed, is responsible for the Filipino sanda aces? vast improvement in their event.
Other members of the team are John Keithley Chan, Eleazar Jacob, Engelbert Addongan, Thornton Quieney Lou Sayan, Kariza Kris Chan, Katlynne Sabalburo and Nastasha Enriquez, all Taolu squad practitioners.
Incidentally, Rivera and John Keithley Chan are former world champions.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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