Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Quijano: School’s in By Jingo Quijano Last Round
BACK in the 90’s when I was a skinny sophomore at UP Diliman—the angry young man that I thought I was, I had the gumption to take up “Arnis” as my Physical Education subject.
To my chagrin, I realized that I was no good at it and my swollen knuckles were damning evidence at how incompetent I was going to be as a Doce Pares enthusiast.
On hindsight, I assign all that to the imprudence of my youth, but I couldn’t help but recall that at time I indeed wondered if a better method of instruction or probably a more serious, lasting approach to the art was needed.
Just recently, Atty. Dionisio Canete, President of the Doce Pares Inc., founded the Academy of Eskrima Inc., touted to be the first ever formal school of Filipino martial arts.
Call it unparalleled, bohemian even but don’t tell that to Atty. Canete, a 12th Grade Blackbelt and Chairman Emeritus of the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (Wekaf).
The academy is Tesda-approved and offers course programs in stick fighting, short range fighting, long range fighting and empty hand fighting. But it goes beyond teaching the rudiments of the martial art, but delves into its origins and its beliefs.
The indefatiguable Atty. Canete is optimistic that his approach to this Filipino martial art will trailblaze a path for other disciplines to follow.
Knife fighting and Corto (close or short range eskrima) as a major subject and a mere PE class? Now, that’s something.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST. Cary “The Prince” Bullos continued with his winning ways and did Cebu proud with his one round demolition of Gym Kata’s Arnel Arancina last Saturday night at URCC XII held at the Events Hall at Makati Ave.
Buoyed by the support of mom Sol and brother Lyndel, Cary informed the Last Round that he wasn’t hurt at all by the punches of Arancina, a former champion in the now defunct Blow by Blow boxing program.
Arancina, also a judo and Muay Thai champ, reportedly was knocked down four times, but kept coming back for more.
What’s next for the fresh prince? Cary, who by the way holds the record for the fastest knockout in URCC history (16 seconds), is now eyeing the belt in the URCC bantamweight division and possibly a main event stint for URCC Cebu planned in October. Stay tuned
IM FORREST, FORREST GRIFFIN. Proving that he could match up against the best light heavyweight in the UFC today, Forrest Griffin showed that he wasn’t the least intimidated by Quentin “Rampage” Jackson and pounded out a very gutsy unanimous decision win.
Being quite partial to boxing, I was pleased that most of the bout was fought standing up, but I would have to say that the leg kicks did it for Forrest.
While Jackson was quite nifty with his sneaky uppercuts, Forrest was able to score well and hurt Jackson with his kicks, which proved to be the big difference in the
fight.
HE SAID IT. “David Diaz put up a great performance but Pacquiao destroyed him, he’s a beast, man.”—Heavyweight contender Monte Barrett who demolished 6-foot-8 Tye Fields in 57 seconds
THE LAST ROUND. It’s on two lovely ladies, Atty. Joy Redoble and Jasmine Gorne who celebrate their birthdays this month. Cheers!
