3rd Annual Cacoy Doce Pares World Championships

The 3rd Annual Cacoy Doce Pares World Championships were held at the Cebu Coliseum on 24th, 25th and 26th November. The event was a great success, building on its humble beginnings with over one hundred competitors from Philippines, Poland, Indonesia, Australia, Great Britain and U.S.A.

The Philippines took first place on the medal tally with Australia a creditable second with 20 medals and a squad 1/3 the size of its hosts.

East Coast Doce Pares was repesented by Master Craig Bajraktarevic-Hayward and Scott Dent from the Sun Moon School in Woolongong. Both trained hard for three months leading up to the event with Scott making weekly trips to Sydney for rigorous training and sparring sessions with Master Craig.

The preparation certainly paid off with the pair taking 5 medals. Master Craig won gold in the 40-49 year lightweight single stick, lightweight double stick and Master Edgar Canete Kulata Challenge. Scott also won gold in the 18-39 year super middleweight single stick category and narrowly lost in the final of the double stick contest.

Master Craig was particularly happy with his win in the inaugural Master Edgar Canete 'Kulata' Challenge, an event staged in honour of the late Master Edgar Canete, son of Grandmaster Ciriaco 'Cacoy' Canete. The event was open to all contestants of the age group, with no weight restricted categories, and only limited armour (no body protection). The elimination rounds were 1 x 1 minute fast and brutal rounds, with the final contested as a 2 x 30 second bout.

The final could have been considered a mis-match with the 57kg, 148cm Master Craig pitted against long time mentor and friend 110kg, 190cm Master Anthony Kleeman. The fight was fast and Master Craig took the ascendancy with a disarm in round one, setting up a must win second round for the bigger opponent, fortunately Master Craig was able to hang on and the judges scored the bout in his favour.

The International Combative Martial Arts Academy from Adelaide made up the bulk of the Australian contingent with Master Vince Palumbo (head of Cacoy Doce Pares Australia) and Andrea Wheatley the most successful with 3 gold and 2 gold medals respectively.

The next tournament is planned for Jakarta in September 2007 and Master Craig urges all ECDPI students to train hard and prepare for ann even bigger event next year.