Ken Caniga practices with his uncle/trainer master Ekin Caniga in this CDN file photo. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Muay Thai fighters from Cebu City snagged three gold medals in the National Muay Thai Championship 2016 held over the weekend at the Philippine Sports Complex in Pasig City.
The Niños also added three silvers and two bronze medals in the two-day event.
National team member Ken Caniga, his younger brother Andrie and Jemarie Josh Ybanez each collected a gold medal in their respective age division to lead Cebu City’s charge.
The Niños were accompanied by Muay Thai Association of the Philippines-Visayas head Master Benigno ‘Ekin’ R. Caniga Jr., the uncle of the winning brothers and head instructor Mary Ann Durado.
Ken, who is fresh from a double gold medal performance in the recent Muay Thai National Open last October 30 in Baguio City, is setting his sights in competing in an international Muay Thai tournament next year along with the national team.
University of Cebu’s (UC) Jhon Agustin Simbahon, Luther Trigo and Radel Marvic Dela Cerna each contributed silver medals to Team Cebu City while Roel Rosauro, a veteran MMA fighter and Darwin Dela Cruz settled for bronze medals in their respective divisions.
“As expected, the competition was tough but our boys did well and they fought hard. All of them got a medal and that is a testament that Team Cebu City is really serious in this sport,” said Master Ekin. “We will rest after this, but the boys will immediately go back to training in preparation for more local and international tournaments next year. Our goal is still to produce more national team members from Cebu City.”
Olympic motivation
The national championships served as a selection process for the national team that will be preparing and competing in various international tournaments next year.
Muay Thai is currently catching the attention of the country’s sports governing body after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently announced that Muay Thai will be given provisional recognition as an Olympic sport.
After a three-year provisional recognition period, Muay Thai will officially become part of the Olympic Games sports calendar.
“It will require hard work but it is not impossible that a Cebuano fighter can represent the country in the Olympics someday,” added Master Ekin.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
