SALAKNIB Mountain Province bested other competitors to claim 10 gold medals including two silvers and one bronze in the Tanding category during the Fourth Sultan Cup of Pencak Silat Sports at the Abanao Square and Baguio Athletic Bowl.
Salaknib edged Philippine College of Criminology (PCCR) Pencak Silat Team with 6-2-0 while Team Baguio fell third with 5-1-0.
Salaknib Benguet gathered 2-3-8 making them fourth in the final standing blaming lack of proper training.
Hundreds coming from the different region in Luzon battled in the two-day competition as part of the annual Baguio Flower Festival.
“This is a Malay sport. This is an indigenous and cultural sport which purpose is to promote camaraderie and sportsmanship,” said Celia Kiram, former president of the Philippine Sports Commission.
Pencak Silat practitioners coming from Benguet and Mt. Province had the highest number of participants according to Pencak regional director Reynald Samson who sees the region as a hub for the Indonesian martial arts.
“Prino-promote natin ang mga Cordillerans kasi talagang malalakas ang mga taga Cordillera Region,” added Samson.
Other teams which participated are Salaknib Ifugao, Salaknib Nueva Viscaya and Ecija, Makati City, Cordillera Career Development Center (CCDC) and Pampanga.
“In every game of Tanding, there are three rounds and every round makes one-minute that sums up to three-minute per game,” said PhilSilat Sports Association chairperson Lino Baldevarona.
The winners of the tournament and other selected athletes will have more training as they represent Luzon for their next competition until the Philippine National Games to be held in Cebu this December. (Jean Ananayo/UC Intern)