Rama: Amity

I’m getting my news of the Summer Olympics in London via Twitter; thanks to people who are lucky enough to be there (notice me turning green with envy).

But beyond the stories of the grand opening and of our 11 athletes, including shooter Brian Rosario who is competing in skeet, there’s an odd story about how there is one team in London with knockoff gear.

It’s not the Philippines.

Reports reaching mainstream media say a member of the Egyptian synchronized swimming team, Yomna Khallaf, tweeted that the Olympic bag she got issued had a giant Nike logo on it but the zippers were marked Adidas.

According to Huffington Post, the Egyptian Olympic Committee, through Gen. Mahmoud Ahmed Ali, has issued a statement to the Associated Press saying the gear was secured from China, “in light of Egypt’s economic situation.”

Nike has, in return, issued a statement citing how it “consistently acts to protect its brand and actively engages with law enforcement agencies and Customs authorities to stop counterfeit product reaching consumers and athletes.”

And as a show of support, the company has also sent free kit to replace the knockoffs.

How is that for amity in the name of sports?

Speaking of which, I found myself at the Cebu Sports Club last Saturday for the opening of a two-day Krav Maga seminar.

For those not so inclined to unarmed defense, Krav Maga is an Israeli fighting system developed by one Imi Lichtenfeld in the 20s and 30s and which was eventually taught to the Israeli Defense Force. The word itself means contact combat.

The seminar was facilitated by Mr. Dindo de Jesus, the burly country director and chief instructor of the International Krav Maga Federation-Philippines, who I would never, ever, not in a million years, ask to a fistfight. I swear; the guy’s like a tank on two legs.

But what made it interesting was that the seminar was organized by the people of Weng Chun Kuntao. By virtue of group name alone, it’s no big mystery what the group is into – the Chinese Martial Arts of Wing Chun.

So what are practitioners of Chinese Martial Arts, and they can be a very conservative lot at times, doing holding a Krav Maga seminar with Krav Maga-Philippines’s head trainer?

In the absence of any proof to the contrary, I would say amity and a genuine desire to promote eclecticism in unarmed self-defense.

Day one of the training featured unarmed defense against firearms, wherein the bad guy pokes a gun at the lower back of an unwitting defender.

De Jesus coached the students – and Weng Chun Kuntao Rene Dumaroas said there were some 30 of them with a few coming from Bohol and Ormoc – to first deflect the gun with a motion that involves a quick turnaround, with the right hand sweeping the gun away and then hooking the palm unto the elbow of the bad guy’s attacking hand.

The defender then rams his sternum into the bad guy’s attacking shoulder, followed by a quick right-elbow strike into the attacker’s neck and repeated knee strikes into the attacker’s abdomen or groin area, followed by a twist-and-pull maneuver to take the gun away from the attacker, a hammer-type strike to the attacker’s head using the butt of the new retrieved firearm.

With the enemy knocked out, the defender then looks left or right to determine if the assailant has backup while checking if the gun is still in action. The defender then hides the gun behind his back and then runs to find safety.

It’s compelling when Coach de Jesus does it. Since I’m not him, nowhere as well-built and definitely nowhere as fast with knee-strikes, I’ll stick to what I know. And you all know what that is.

(knrama@gmail.com www.rebelmouse.com/stagefive or follow @On_Stage_5 on twitter.com)