World Games Athlete of the Year
This is one of the best times to show that Filipinos are a powerhouse on the worldwide web.
World Muaythai champion Philip Delarmino has fallen behind after the first two days of online voting for the 2021 World Games Athlete of the Year honors.
The martial arts community is calling on Filipino online users to spare a little of their time and cast their votes in favor of the Filipino candidate.
“Let’s show our support and help our Muaythai National Athlete Phillip Delarmino and win this Award,” said the official Facebook page of the Muaythai Association of the Philippines. “Let’s get behind King Phillip! Make sure to vote for him every 4:00 pm until January 23.”
The 31-year-old Delarmino is among the 24 candidates from different sports around the world for the prestigious award by the international multi-sport competition that holds sports events not contested in the Olympic Games.
Hockey player PR Sreejesh of India is the current frontrunner since the online voting started on Jan. 10 with 25,988 votes. Coming in at second is Paige Pierce (Flying Disc) of the US with 15,1567 votes.
Delarmino is currently in a group of five candidates with 4,000-plus votes so far, along with Michele Giordano (Wushu) from Italy, Ekaterina Mikhaylushkina (Underwater Sports) from Russia, Melissa Martinez Aceves (Kickboxing) from Mexico, and Sara Lopez (Archery) from Columbia.
Voting ends on Jan. 23 and Filipino netizens need to break the trend and put Delarmino up front.
Delarmino, who has been a member of the national team for 10 years now, captured the men’s -57kg diadem in the 2021 IFMA World Muaythai Championships in Phuket, Thailand. The victory also earned him a slot in the World Games set July 7 to 17 in Birmingham, USA.
“We are making history. (Delarmino) is the first Filipino athlete to be nominated as the Athlete of the Year in The World Games,” the post added.To vote for Delarmino, click the link: https://www.theworldgames.org/…/Athlete-of-the-Year.
The instruction says: “You can vote for your candidate once every 24 hours. First, click on the “Vote” button for Phillip Delarmino (who will receive two votes). Then, to make your vote count, click on the “Vote” button for your second favorite candidate (who will receive one vote).”
The Philippine Sports Commission and individual supporters have also shared the post urging Filipino netizens to vote for Delarmino.
Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas (SKP) secretary-general Atty. Wharton Chan also exhorted the national kickboxing athletes and other affiliates to support the Delarmino.
“Let’s support our brother in martial arts and kapwa natin Filipino who will make us proud,” Chan told his athletes and coaches.
SKP’s Kickboxing Pilipinas official page on Facebook also shared the voting link on its page.