Mr. M Levent Akici, International Affairs Coordinator of World Ethnosport Confederation WEC, honored with Award of Appreciation

Support for traditional sports and games looks to be gathering steam all over the world with several strategic meetings between movers and shakers in TSGs and key people in government with the aim of reviving and popularizing ancient traditional sports.

Alliances such as The Global Sikaran Federation and World Ethnosport Confederation (WEC) are making giant strides towards advancing the frontiers of traditional games by seeking support from established and organized games and also setting up various fora for discussions on local games in other nations.

The Global Sikaran Federation is solely focused on the development and promotion of the Sikaran martial art sport on a global scale. Sikaran originated from the Philippines and is a general term for kicking which is also sometimes used as the name of the kicking aspects of other Filipino martial arts like Arnis, Eskrima and Kali.

With support from other Sikaran lovers, the Global Sikaran Federation is pushing for the inclusion of the sport in the Olympics. Locally, the federation is also hoping that in the near future, the Sikaran sport will be embedded in the Filipino school curriculum and recognized as a national sport.

The Global Sikaran Federation is founded by Sikaran Grand-Master Dr. Hari Osias Banaag. Dr. Banaag has taught the sport for 47 years and is highly well thought of in Martial Arts circles as he has won 7 Martial Arts Hall of Fame awards. His fame and impact in the world of traditional games was instrumental in his appointment by UNESCO as a member of their Adhoc Advisory Committee on Traditional Sports and Games.

WEC also organizes local and international activities to revive traditional sports and games, increase their awareness, and make them popular around the world. It aims to perform in a professional context to ensure ethnosport’s relevance in the future, the values of which have been handed down the next generations for thousands of years.

In one of such activities, WEC was invited to Mexico earlier in December to follow an ancient ballgame known as Ulama and for talks on promoting one of the oldest continuously played sports in the world. WEC also held a forum in Antalya, Turkey in February of this year with the theme “Reviving Traditional Sports”.

The forum had sessions focused on the challenges experienced by clubs in traditional sports and the role of ethnosports in intergenerational and intercultural dialogue.

Mr. M Levent Akici is the International Affairs Coordinator of WEC and he recently visited the Global Sikaran Federation at their headquarters in Delano USA. Mr. Levent’s work towards collaboration among traditional sports and games associations has not gone unrecognized. He was awarded with a certificate of appreciation for his dedication and hard work towards the promotion of Traditional Sports and as being key to the recently held 4th Collective Consultation Meeting of Traditional Sports and Games, UNESCO in Istanbul Turkey which convened to promote the inclusion of TSGs in the daily sports culture of countries.

In the picture: Hari Osias Banaag President Global Sikaran Federation honor Mr. Muhammed Levent Akici International Affairs Coordinator of World Ethnosport Confederation (WEC) with Award of Appreciation

President of Global Sikaran Federation Dr. Hari Osias Banaag discussed with Mr. Levent at the meeting in Delano to include Sikaran in the 4th World Nomad Games. Mr. Levent assured him of his support and the possibilities of the inclusion of Sikaran in 2020 Nomad Games which will be held in Turkey under WEC. He invited Dr. Banaag to Istanbul for further discussions and possible support of their team for the 2020 Games.

The World Nomad Games are an international sport competition dedicated to ethnic sports practiced in Central Asia. The countries taking part in those games are the former Soviet republics of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Russia (especially Sakha, Buryatia, Altay, Kalmykia, Bashkortostan republics, etc.) as well as other countries like Mongolia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Philippines and the United States. The first three World Nomad Games were held in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan.

The Mayor of Delano City, Mr. Joe. Aguirre thanked Mr. Levent Akici for visiting the city of Delano in a meeting where they discussed about the cultural exchange and political exchange program between the city of Delano and Istanbul, Turkey. In the meeting, Shammi Rana Rapporteur of Ad Hoc Advisory Committee Traditional Sports and Games, UNESCO and Emman Banaag Vice President of Global Sikaran Federation were also present.