Emmanual Cantores bagged a silver in combat vovinam, while forms event specialist Jovan Medallo took the bronze in the men’s Sun-Moon Broadsword late Monday in the 7th WVVF World Vovinam Championships in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
Cantores defeated three rivals on the way to the finals, but lost to a more superior opponent in Vinh Truong of host Vietnam, 1-6, in the battle for gold in the Men’s Fighting -60 kg.
Medallo, a Cebuano multi-medalist in forms competitions, placed third in the event to repeat his bronze-medal finish in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games last May.
Medallo’s first major victory was when he captured the country’s first gold medal in the Asian Kickboxing Championship by ruling the senior men’s musical forms with weapons to bring home the gold medal.
The silver and bronze medals in the world tourney of vovinam, a young combat sport that originated in Vietnam, came a day after the Philippines bagged its first gold medal in the sport’s world championship courtesy of Hergie Bacyadan.
Bacyadan almost nailed the gold in the Cambodia SEA Games, no thanks to a controversial decision after her final match with a Vietnamese foe ended in a draw and was settled by a raffle.
Vovinam, which originated from Vietnam, is a combat sport, with elements from different martial arts, like kicks from tae kwon do, grapples from hop kido, and throws from Judo.