By Joel B. Belinan
Time and again, Igorots showed that they can be very competitive in sports but more so in combat sports. These include karate, taekwondo, wushu, muay thai, judo, wrestling, boxing and the most recent kind, the mixed martial arts. This is allegedly due to some given factors such as the mostly rugged and high altitude topography of our region that developed in us much bigger and stronger muscles, bones and lungs compared to our lowland brethren.
Last Wednesday marked the 33rd Anniversary of the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region by virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 220. In observance of this important event in the history of our region let me focus on three exceptional Igorot sportsmen who might be considered the region’s pioneers in local and international sports.
First was the late Arsenio Bawingan Jr. who during the 70s and 80s his name was synonymous to karate, Japan’s way of the empty hand. He began his study of the martial art in a backyard gymn in 1962 followed by his formal karate training in 1965 under the tutelage of Shihan Kunio Sasaki of the Japan Karate Association. In 1971, having won as 1st runner-up in Kumite and 2nd runner-up in Kata in a national karate tournament in this country, he represented the Philippines in the 14th World Games in Budokan, Tokyo, Japan. He took this opportunity to observe karate in its home ground. He likewise participated in ensuing goodwill karate matches in Sendai and Kyushu, Japan, and passed his 2nd dan blackbelt tests under the administration of the late Grandmaster Nakayama Masatoshi, then the JKA head instructor. In 1984, he left the JKA and founded the Shin Shin Karate Do. (Lifted from SSK Baguio fb page)
Second was the late James Brett Sr. who was the first and the only Igorot wrestler to have competed in a summer Olympics. Brett Sr. was one of the country’s representatives during the 1952 summer Olypics in Helsinski. Apart from being a world class wrestler, Brett Sr.was one of the first karate blackbelters in the Philippines under the tutelage of the aforesaid Shihan Kunio Sasaki. It was Brett Sr. who allegedly convinced the famous Kunio Sasaki to stay in the Philippines and nurture the growth of karate here.
Rey Tam, the Igorot who had shone in boxing, with a career spanning the 70s and the early part of the 80s when he captured our country’s super-feather weight crown and that of the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation crown. He tried but failed to win a world title fight in 1978. Rey tam according to accounts had an 18 winning streak in one period of his boxing career. He is still alive today.
In recent years, we saw Igorot sports heroes making waves in combat sports in the international scene putting the Cordillera and the Philippines on the world map. They have been showing their dominance in muay thai, taekwondo, wushu, wrestling, kickboxing and, yes, in mixed martial arts. In fact if we are to mention their names here, a whole page might not suffice, so it would be best that we’ll do that in installments in the future.
Comments @ fb page: Martial Arts for Health and Fitness.
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