By Nick Giongco
CLARKFIELD, Pampanga—After dominating the three-day competitions, arnis head and Sen. Migz Zubiri is batting for the Filipino martial arts in the 2021 Hanoi Southeast Asian Games.
Dexter Balambao of the Philippines shouts as he celebrates after defeating Pang Soe of Myanmar during their Bantamweight Arnis MAtch at the Angeles University Foundation in Pampanga. Balambao bagged the first gold medal for the Philippine Arnis Team. (Mark Balmores)
With a winning tally of 14-4-2, Zubiri feels arnis has what it takes to be included in the 2021 calendar of events.
“We are hoping that Vietnam will host us but according to the (Vietnam head) coach they have met with their officials and they had an
agreement that they’ll have arnis as one of the games,” said Zubiri on Tuesday.
“That’s a big step to be a regular sport in the SEAG. We need to have two consecutive (in the SEAG) to be a regular sport,” he added.
Still, Zubiri said a key meeting in March next year in Vietnam will determine if arnis is indeed going to make it.
Vietnam won four gold medals here while the remaining two were shared by Myanmar and Cambodia, the only other countries that took part in the SEAG.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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