MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine arnis team racked up four gold, five silver and four bronze medals in the World Martial Arts Festival and bagged the overall title in the first International Thang-ta Championship in Chungju, Korea recently.
Reg Geli bested compatriot Hannah Donato for the gold in the lightweight division, Daniel Bernas took the gold in the half lightweight class, Masters Richard Gialogo and Ryan Gialogo made a 1-2 finish in the half heavyweight division and Allan Valencia dominated the heavyweight category.
Other medal winners were half lightweight Georgia Uy (silver), lightweights John Donato (silver) and Jake Fragranted (bronze), middleweights Jeff Tan (silver) and Ryan Bermase (bronze).
Bermase also took the bronze in the double-sword sparring category in the second Chungju Open Martial Spirit Masters Championship while teaming up with Bernas, Tan, Valencia and Xavier Garcia to finish fourth in the five-man team long sword category.
Master Ryan Gialogo, reelected vice president of WoMAU, also wound up third in the international martial arts competition.
Bernas and Hannah Donato ended up fifth in the two-person weapons demo while John Donato and Reg Reyes and the team made it to the Top 10 in the empty-hand demo and group exhibition category, respectively.
The week-long festival, organized by the World Martial Arts Union (WoMAU) in partnership with the UNESCO, drew 27 teams from 23 member countries.