A message from the Australian Country Director - WEKAF (World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation), Grand Master Marc Toussaint

WEKAF AUSTRALIA – 2024 NATIONAL TEAM

17^TH WEKAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, MANDAUE CITY CEBU, PHILIPPINES, 2024

What an outstanding 17th WEKAF World Championship! As WEKAF Country Director for Australia, I want to again personally congratulate each and every one of you on your amazing performance!

I am proud to reflect on how our team of 16 competitors from QLD, WA and VIC demonstrated the highest skill, strength, and camaraderie, and how your incredible sportsmanship truly shone throughout the competition – something you should all be extremely proud of. I am still receiving the most positive feedback about Team Australia’s great support for one another, as well as for all international teams taking part in the in the competition.

Not only am I immensely proud of our team, I am so grateful for the efforts of your coaches, clubs, family members, friends, and everyone working behind the scenes in supporting your training, and for committing to the great task of coordinating travel to Cebu, making it possible for our team to compete at an international level – and finish with such a great result, placing 4th in the competition overall, following only the Philippines (1^st), USA (2^nd) and Reunion Island (3^rd). This is a HUGE deal!

Competing amongst a total of 328 international competitors – including a vast line-up of entrants from the Philippines, the home of WEKAF– our team finished up the 17^th WEKAF World Championships with a total of 39 medals: 8 Gold, 7 Silver and 24 Bronze! An incredible performance and a huge win for Team Australia!

I find myself thinking that while international lockdowns and restrictions devastated our ability to coordinate national qualifiers during 2020-21, preventing us from being able to send an Australian national team over for 16th WEKAF World Championships in 2022, Team Australia has emerged stronger and more and united than ever in 2023-24! We can only hope to continue this effort into the future!