The Cordillera region has always been a hotbed for athletes in the martial arts discipline. When it comes to exhibition and combat sports associated with martial arts, majority of the athletes that the country sends off to international competitions often come from Baguio City and nearby Cordillera provinces. This is the case in the ongoing 2015 Southeast Asian Games in the city-state of Singapore.
And last Sunday (June 7), another Cordilleran bagged the gold medal in the event taijiquan. Daniel Parantac, an alumnus of the University of the Cordilleras bested delegates from the other ten participating countries. This is the second time that Parantac won a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games. The first time was in 2013 when he competed in the same event in Myanmar.
Parantac also competed at the Asian Games last year in Incheon, South Korea. He ended up taking home a silver medal. The 24-year-old wushu practitioner was the recipient of the Athlete of the Year award at the 2013 Kafagway Sports Achievers Awards in Baguio City.
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| Wushu athlete Daniel Parantac. Image credit: Parantac via Facebook. |
The 28th Southeast Asian Games will end on June 16. Aside from the Philippines, the participating nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam. As of this writing, Singapore leads the medal tally with 51 gold, 43 silver and 53 bronze medals. Thailand is second with 37 gold medals and Vietnam is third with 32 gold medals. The Philippines is currently at the sixth spot with 12 gold, 17 silver, and 27 bronze medals.
