SGM Diony Cañete hails Hungary’s WEKAF hosting

CEBU, Philippines- Supreme Grandmaster Diony Cañete, founder and president emeritus of the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation, has lauded Hungary's highly-successful hosting of the 2014 WEKAF Championships. The biennial gathering of the best ekrimadors all over the world was staged last July 23-27 in Debrecen, the second largest Hungarian city after Budapest.

"My hats off to the organizers of the recently WEKAF Championships recently in Debrecen, Hungary. It was a well-organized, very successful tournament," said SGM Cañete, who was the guest of honor during the five-day tilt.

Hungary is one of the few countries who have had the distinct privilege of hosting the prestigious event. The others are Mexico, England, and the United States.

In Debrecen, SGM Cañete was particularly impressed with the highly-tech, computerized scoring system enforced by the organizing Hungarian Doce Pares Eskrima under the dynamic leadership of Master Ferenc Danko.

"The flow of the competition was very smooth. A participant cannot even enter the court unless it is already his turn to fight. That's how stringent they are as far as the tournament rules is concerned. Also, they used a computerized scoring system. That is something we plan to have when it's our turn to host the event in 2016," said SGM Cañete.

Danko, for his part, said it's a great honor for Hungary to have hosted a martial arts conclave of such magnitude.

"It was a great honor and privelege for Hungary to be hosting the 2014 WEKAF World Championships, one of the most prestigious martial arts events in the world. It was a significant milestone for us," said Danko, who established Hungarian Doce Pares eight years ago. "In Hungary, eskrima is still in its infancy, but its practitioners are ambitious and enthusiastic to show to every nation that we are here to be recognized as country that produces excellent fighters and be taken very seriously in this type of sport."

Social, Cultural Linkage

SGM Cañete said Debrecen Mayor Lajos Kósa was so enamored with the colorful history of the ingenious Filipino stick-fighting art that he wants to forge a sister-city partnership with the Queen City of the South.

"Upon knowing that eskrima traces it roots in Cebu, the mayor personally told me that he wants Debrecen to establish a sister-city relationship with our beloved city. Maybe within a week or two, I'm going to meet with Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama to take up that matter," said SGM Canete, who had been enshrined to the Order of Datu Lapu-Lapu two years ago. ODL is the highest award any eskrima master could receive in a lifetime.

Kosa's move is truly a welcome development as aside from inviting Filipino Masters and Grandmasters to train and continually expand the knowledge and skills of the Hungarian eskrimadors, one of the primordial objectives of Hungarian Doce Pares is to have a direct lineage with the Philippines.

At the moment, Debrecen has 14 sister-cities. These are Cattolica (Italy), Jyväskylä (Finland), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Lublin (Poland), New Brunswick (United States), Oradea (Romania), Paderborn (Germany), Patras (Greece), Rishon LeZion (Israel), Setúbal (Portugal), Saint Petersburg and Syktyvkar (Russia), Shumen (Bulgaria), and Taitung City (Taiwan).

Eskrima school in London

Aside from gracing the WEKAF  “World Championships, SGM Cañete, together with Grandmaster Percival "Val" Pableo, one of his brighest students, conducted various training and seminars around Europe including in Italy, France, Germany and United Kingdom.

In the course of his most recent trip, SGM Cañete has noted the rising popularity of eskrima among the European martial arts disciples. "Eskrima has grown exponentially and has gained overwhelming recognition in Europe. That is largely because Doce Pares is complete. It has all the components of the Filipino martial art. We're the only one that teaches everything,"he said.

While eksrima is rapidly propagating in Europe, SGM Cañete said he is sad that some of the people that teaches it are not certified Doce Pares International instructors.

"I've learned that some of those who teach eskrima in Europe only know a little about Doce Pares, some are not even certified instructors. I don't want that the Europeans who want to learn about Doce Pares will be misled. That is the very reason why I'm planning to put up a branch in London, hopefully within two years time. My main goal in doing that is to formalize, directly supervise and implement the true Doce Pares in multi-style system," said SGM Cañete.

"This is not something to brag about but I've already done enough to propagate Doce Pares here and around the world. I've organized the first ever national championships in 1979. Ten years later, I founded WEKAF and staged the first ever world championships. I've also bonded together all 14 quarelling clubs and Grandmasters in Cebu. I've put up an Eskrima Temple and have Doce Pares eskrima integrated in TESDA curriculum," he said. "But I still have the urge to do more because I really want to continue the promotion of Doce Pares in a cohesive effort. That would be my lasting legacy." (FREEMAN)