ARNIS TAKES ROOT IN RUSSIA

     "MOSCOW – Arnis de mano, , a traditional Philippine martial arts form developed in pre-colonial times and popularized internationally in the 1970s by Bruce Lee, has taken root in the world's biggest nation", - Philippine Ambassador to Russia Ernesto V. Llamas reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

     With the Embassy's support, the newly established Moscow Federation of Martial Arts, Arnis, Escrima, Kali and Jeet Kune Do (ICAF in Russian) held on 13 March 2005 an hour-long demonstration attended by some 100 people in the lecture hall of the State Museum of Oriental Arts.

     The audience, mostly young Russian men and women, but also including elderly and children, watched with rapt attention as 23 trainees from Moscow, Moscow Region and the city of Nizhniy Novgorod exhibited various stick-fighting techniques under the guidance of ICAF President Mikhail Ivanov and training counselor Alexander Britenkov.

     Founded in 2001 and officially registered in 2004 following the first all-Russia camp in the Nizhniy Novgorod Region, ICAF currently boasts of 152 students in the Russian capital and another 200 from the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the Russian Far East.

     General interest in arnis looks set to expand throughout Russia in the wake of ICAF's activities, which include holding regular courses for the Moscow police force and various private security personnel, organizing free self-defense classes for socially vulnerable groups such as the handicapped, the blind and delinquent teenagers.

     Ivanov, who is collaborating with the renowned Dinamo sports club in publishing a book on arnis in Russian, told the Embassy that ICAF's goal is to have itself recognized by the Manila-based International Philippine Martial Arts Federation (IPMAF) and to found chapters in half of Russia's 90 administrative units - the minimum number required to establish a national federation.

     ICAF, which is a non-profit organization with corporate membership in the Physical Culture and Sport Center of the Moscow Police (GUVD of Moscow) and a number of Russian sports associations, is also considering participating in the 9th IPMAF World Arnis Congress and Training Camp to be held in Hinigiran, Negros Oriental from 24 April to 6 May 2005.

     At present, IPMAF has 20,000 members worldwide, in such countries as Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States.

     Although Filipinos commonly refer to stick-fighting as arnis, Filipino martial arts are grouped together overseas as escrima or kali. At its peak, more than 200 styles of Filipino martial arts are supposed to have existed prior to the arrival of Spaniards in the Philippines.

     Records suggest that the warriors of Mactan led by Lapu-Lapu used a form of kali, using spears and swords instead of the contemporary balisong fan knife and rattan or tiger cane, to defeat Magellan's invading force. However, colonial era prohibitions on the teaching of arnis led to the art's decline.

     It enjoyed a revival in the 1960s and 1970s, thanks to the efforts of Ernesto and Remy Presas, who opened training centers in the US West Coast. There, Dan Inosanto practiced arnis with Bruce Lee, who used some of the principles to found his own style, Jeet Kune Do, in 1967. Jeet Kune Do uses the same weapons as arnis.

     In Russia, the earliest attempts to practice arnis trace back to 1998. It only became established after ICAF's training counselor Britenkov returned in 2000 from studying in the US under Grandmaster Ernesto Presas. Eventually he put up the Baylun Martial Arts School in Moscow in 2001.