Lema Cup

[Shaun]

This is the time of year when the Lema Cup is held in Manila, in memory of Grandmaster Bejamin Luna Lema.The date of this tournament is on or around the birthday of Mang Ben,which is March 19(1919).

[Banakun]

All preparations are underway for the 3rd Lema Cup. It's gonna be an exciting tournament with many strong contenders. So far this years strong bets based on last years performance are Mang Romy's player, Sangkil and Angkan (who made it to the finals). MK is gonna have a hard time defending the championship! Hahahahahah...

[Shaun]

Well,Mang Romy's guys and Sangkil and the other guys all have home team advantage.
MK is going to have to work harder for sure.You need to bring some cheerleaders(ha,ha) and home town support, Davao style.

[Dawn]

Hello, I'm new. Would anyone know where and when the Lema Cup will be for 2008? I'd really love to see it if it's ok for anyone to just walk in and take a peek. Or do you have to belong to a club to be allowed to watch?

[Banakun]

Hello Dawn, actually, the Lema Cup is an internal tournament exclusive for LSAI. Can you tell me what group/system you practice with? I'll ask the others if we can invite outsiders as guests to the event...

[Banakun]

If it's a go, text me your contact number so I can tell/text you the details. It will be on March 16, Sunday in the morning.

[Dawn]

..actually, the Lema Cup is an internal tournament exclusive for LSAI.. I'll ask the others if we can invite outsiders as guests to the event...

Hello Banakun, thank you so much for thinking about asking. But if it's an internal event, please don't trouble yourself (and the others) po. I'll just wait for until I'm formally a member. If I'm a good girl during training maybe I could see it next year. :angel:

Anyway, please let me know how it went. Good luck to your team on Sunday!

[Banakun]

Hello Dawn. We've decided to do it outdoors instead of indoors. So it is now essentially "open" for public viewing. The tournament will be held at the quadrangle of the UP Department of Military Science and Tactics Compound, UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City. The tournament wil start at around 8 am (hopefully but you know Filipino time) on Sunday. Feel free to introduce yourself to the organizers and say you were in invited through this forum.

[littlebadboy]

Congratulations to the son of Master Romy Santos! He truly deserves the 3rd Lema Cup Title!

The fight for the finals was like David versus Goliath!

[chamber]

it was a sunday morning well spent! kudos to the organizers, officials and all the participants! it was great to see the masters, doing demos! mabuhay lsai!

[littlebadboy]

Note: click on images for a larger picture.

The event was held at the Open Air Quadrangle of the DMST, UP Diliman. The event was organized by the Mandirigmang Kaliradman, Academia Tercia Cerrada Cadenilla y Espada y Daga and the Sangkil Karasak. It was attended by Ate Patty Luna-Caballero, LSAI Masters, instructors, members, the DMST Commandant Col. Gil Aganon, and other guests. The event was headed by Master Bot Jocano. The emcee was MK's Jopot Solana.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n665389116_443115_8502.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n665389116_443115_8502.jpg)

The tournament was also held outdoors. The rules were almost the same as the usual padded stick format tournaments except that the checking hand was allowed to make it more LSAI-like... after all, it was an LSAI event! However, you can't use the checking hand to punch or grab. It was a race to 10 points limiting the round to only 3 minutes.

Since it was an LSAI event, the players were representatives of their respective LSAI clubs:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n665389116_442007_1628.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n665389116_442007_1628.jpg)

Ronald Santos - Warriors (Son of Master Romy Santos)
Melbino Pantonia - ?
Dave Beltran - Mandirigmang Kaliradman
Jerson Monderondo - Independent
Victor Malicdem, Jr. - Lahing Mandirigma Arnis Serrada
Ruel Apostol - Academia Tercia Cerrada Cadenilla y Espada y Daga
John Bradshaw - Kidlat Arnis Club
Phan Minh Quan - Angkan ng Mandirigma

Elimination Round:
Fight 1: Ronald Santos vs Melbino Pantonia, Ronald Santos Wins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idyHPxBuAUA

Fight 2: Dave Beltran vs Jerson Monderondo, Jerson Monderondo wins
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfQSRLJ_lw0
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1VvA1NjUxE

Fight 3: Victor Malicdem, Jr. vs Ruel Apostol, Victor Malicdem, Jr. wins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8sD-EwIa5M

Fight 4: John Bradshaw vs Phan Minh Quan, Phan Minh Quan wins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWiBbsv43aI

Intermission Demo: Arnel Hila (1st Lema Cup 2006 winner) and his daughter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBpYaApp5vQ

Semi-finals Round:
Fight 5: Ronald Santos vs Jerson Monderondo, Ronald Santos wins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0SOi9vpzs

Fight 6: Victor Malicdem, Jr. vs Phan Minh Quan, Phan Minh Quan wins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDcxrJjXwjA

Final Round:
Ronald Santos vs Phan Minh Quan, Ronald Santos wins a very technical fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnkRfBOPPYk

The end of the tournament concluded that Ronald Santos is the 3rd Lema Cup 2008 champion.

This is the second year that Phan Minh Quan ended up in the Final Round and is a player to reckon with next year if he will still be competing.

This is Ronald Santos being awarded with the trophy and a symbolic stick by Mike Ariz, the previous year's champ:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n886550430_2476454_6991.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n886550430_2476454_6991.jpg)

A close up of the trophy, which was actually a sword with engraved markings:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n886550430_2476473_5826.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n886550430_2476473_5826.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n886550430_2476472_5328.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n886550430_2476472_5328.jpg)

The champions, posing with Ate Patty Luna-Caballero (seated), standing from L to R: Mike Ariz (2nd Lema Cup Champion 2007), Arnel Hila (1st Lema Cup Champion 2006) and Ronald Santos (recently concluded 3rd Lema Cup Champion 2008)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n886550430_2476458_8697.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n886550430_2476458_8697.jpg)

The tournament's referee was Mike Ariz. The tradition being set was that the previous year's champion will be referee for the current year's tournament.

After the exciting fights, Jennifer Oliquiono of Lahing Mandirigma Arnis Serrada (LAMAS) showed her gold medal winning anyo to the crowd. There were demos and sharing of techniques all over the place. Those noted were olisi, olisi y daga, daga empty hands and dumog of Master Nols del Rosario, espada y daga of Master Romy, and others.

Lunch was served, courtesy of Master Shaun and other sponsors.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n665389116_443114_7442.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n665389116_443114_7442.jpg)

The usual cutting of Mang Ben's birthday cake followed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/th_n665389116_442031_1817.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/littlebadboy/arnis/n665389116_442031_1817.jpg)

More pictures at LSAI's Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9002232223

Thank you for reading!

Thank you Brando for the pictures and videos!

[chamber]

Great documentation! Thanks for sharing! Mabuhay LSAI!

[Banakun]

Thanks to all those people who helped organize the event and make it a success! Thanks for your contribution Shaun! It did well to fill us up after the day's excitement! Hahahahahahaha!

Hopefully, next year will be much more grand. The outdoor set-up was really good, except for the heat. Many noticed that the picnic-like atmosphere was more conducive to people hanging around longer and exchanging notes, etc.
Master Joey Sumiller suggested we have a parachute-tent set-up next time around...

I hope more people show up and hang around next year. This can be an especially rewarding time for students as this is where they can see the different approaches by the different Masters and Instructors. Maybe next time we can have a "seminar-type" afternoon after the tourney where students can just hang around and informally ask the Masters or Instructors about specific techniques they would want to learn or polish. That would be really great!

[Carol]

Wow...that looked like it was a great time!

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful write-up. I hope it continues to grow and flourish!

[Ryno]

Fantastic. Good fights, and good atmosphere. It makes me want to get a local LESKAS/LSAI Seattle picnic going sometime soon!

[Shaun]

Glad it went well guys.I wish I was there.
Mang Ben is smiling down on us.

[littlebadboy]

Personally, I liked what was done in the 1st Lema Cup Tournament back in 2006. Everybody got to fight all the players and the player with most wins gets the trophy. Its not only a battle for the best, but a battle for the fittest. It was more interesting to see how each fighter deals with other players with different attributes.

Nevertheless, this year's event was still very exciting and interesting. Bravo to the organizers!