To the untrained eye, arnis — the stick-wielding martial art of the Philippines — is brutal and frenzied, but behind the chaos lies a tradition dating back hundreds of years. With some contests lasting just a few minutes, the fast and furious combat sport made a triumphant return to the Southeast Asian Games this week, boosting the home nation’s haul of golds by 14.
Filipino arnisadors are fiercely proud of their country and of the sport that symbolizes their spirit of battle and revolution.
The martial art holds a treasured place in Filipino hearts as it evokes 16th-century tribal ruler Lapu-Lapu, whose army killed Ferdinand Magellan, the lead explorer in the first successful circumnavigation of the globe, and saw off the Spanish invaders, delaying their colonization by several decades.
Photo: AFP
“We consider this the martial art of Lapu-Lapu,” said Philippine Senator Miguel Zubiri, who is president of the Philippines Arnis Federation.
“Lapu-Lapu was our first defender,” the former world champion added at the Angeles University Foundation, about 80km northwest of Manila. “We consider him our first national hero. He is actually in our logo and we consider him as our founding father.”
The “full combat” version of arnis is rapid and unforgiving, and the weapons are considered as extensions of the body.
“It’s a style of fighting where you utilize knives and sticks,” Zubiri said, adding that the Spanish banned bladed weapons during their occupation, so Filipinos instead trained with sticks.
Players in body armor and grilled helmets bow to one another in the middle of the fighting square before attempting to strike their opponent’s body with a baton made of rattan.
At the SEA Games, men and women from just four nations — the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam — fought in bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions.
They also performed solo choreographed routines with weapons, known as anyo, for which competitors wore traditional costumes.
Crisamuel Delfin won a gold medal for his “open weapon” routine, during which he wielded a sword, and performed somersaults and flips.
His feathered headdress is a sign of ferocity, painted tattoos show a warrior’s accomplishments and place in society, and the pattern on his wanno loincloth indicates where he is from — the mountainous region of Ifugao, Delfin said.
“Being from the tribes of the northern provinces, it was very important that I was able to show my traditional costume and to revive and rekindle the spirit of being a warrior in the Philippines,” he said through a translator. “I was glad I was to bring out not just the movements, but the emotion and the feeling of being fierce and committed — the spirit of being a martial artist.”
Abegail Abad, from Baguio City in Luzon, won the women’s welterweight padded stick competition.
“For me it is important to look back for the traditional, because it is what binds us together,” she said. “And if this binds us together, we can also be what we want to be in the future.”
Arnis was last included as a competition in the SEA Games in 2005, when the Philippines last hosted the event — and when they last finished at the top of the medals table.
They are on course to repeat the feat, as the SEA Games’ program is flexible and events can be included in the hosts’ favor.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS