A GROUP of Cebuano arnisadors will leave for Las Vegas, USA today to compete in the 6th Doce Pares World Championship, which will be held on April 8-9 at Circus Circus Hotel.
Due to budget constraint, the Philippine delegation will only field in 11 stickfighters.
“This will be a lean but mean team. We are not vying for overall title since we cannot compete in all divisions. But we will compete hard,” said Harold Talledo, head instructor of World Doce Pares and chairman of the officiating committee.
Talledo said stickfighters from Manila were supposed to be part of the Philippine delegation but they decided to skip the tournament due to lack of funds.
The delegation will be headed by Grandmaster Michael Cañete, president of World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (Wekaf).
Cebu City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya and Allan Delantar, commissioner of the Cebu City Sports Comnission, are also part of the delegation.
Gabuya and Delantar will attend the World Congress, where they were invited as guest of honor and keynote speaker, respectively.
One of the highlights of the tournament is the launching of two books on arnis-eskrima written by Cebuano Supreme Grandmaster Dionisio Cañete.
SGM Cañete wrote the books upon the request of grandmasters, officers and general membership and agreed to have the launching on his birthday on April 8.
Wekaf executive director Gerald Cañete, son of SGM Cañete, brought copies of the books when he left for Hawaii last Friday.
While in Hawaii, Gerald will be conducting arnis seminars and will also meet with city government officials for the staging of the 15th Wekaf World Championship slated July next year.
After the event in Las Vegas, SGM Cañete will fly to 11 European countries to attend seminars and go on a promotional tour for the new books.