Baguio wushu feted in Manila

BAGUIO wushu players who recently plucked medals in their respective contests were honored in a simple ceremony by the Wushu Federation of the Philippines.

World Junior Championship winner John Keithley Chan led the cast of honorees during the weekend affair including four other Baguio wushu players.

Chan, a promising 16-year-old reigned supreme in the taolu (spear) event in the World Junior Championship December last year in Singapore, besting a field of 12.

Also honored was Mark Eddiva, who won a bronze medal in the Guangzhou Asian Games.

Despite being favored to land on the podium, Eddiva was the only Filipino wushu artist who grabbed a medal with Eduard Folayang and Benjie Rivera taken out early, including women's sanshou bet Mary Jane Estimar.

Eddiva, gold medalist in the 2009 Southeast Asian Games and fifth in the 2007 world championships, crushed Ishan Abeyrathna of Sri Lanka in the Round of 16.

He also subdued Kerighj Aghael of Iran in the quarterfinal to reach the semifinal round where he lost to China's Zhang Junyong, 2-0, to settle for the team's first bronze medal in wushu.

Fellow teammate Mary Jane Estimar was also honored during the ceremony after placing third in the Wushu World Cup while fellow Baguio wushu sensation Amado Benito Jr., a bronze medal winner in the World Juniors.

A freshman in hotel and restaurant management at the University of the Cordilleras, Benito thrashed Kant Shashi in snaring the bronze medal in the sanshou or san da (combat) 48 kg division during the World Juniors also in December. (Roderick Osis)