SUPPORT FROM THE TOP: Wong (centre) affixes his signature to officiate the opening of the 5th Borneo Cup International Martial Arts Tournament.
SIBU: Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh foresees a bright future for wushu to be eventually included in the 2020 Olympic Games.
He said the sport was gaining worldwide attention in recent years and for it to be included in the 2020 Olympic Games was not an impossible dream.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had short listed eight sports to be included in the 2020 Olympic Games and wushu currently hold the biggest prospect to be considered.
“It will be very meaningful and a great honour to the Chinese community if wushu is eventually given the nod to be included in the 2020 Olympic Games,” he said yesterday at the opening of the 5th Borneo Cup International Martial Arts Tournament held at the Sibu Trade and Exhibition Centre.
About 200 martial art exponents from 18 teams took part in the three-day championship aimed at upgrading the standard of Wushu.
Among those included two from Chinese Macau, one from Indonesia and the rest from the Peninsula with the local exponents making up the bulk.
The competition was divided into several categories namely, sanda, which combined kickboxing and wrestling technique, wushu and taichi and chen style taiqi.
Wong, however, said the promotion of wushu depended very much on the people’s support and cooperation from all parties, especially those from the martial arts fraternity.
He was grateful to those who had helped the game persevere and returned with good results.
“Your persistence and dedication shown towards the promotion of wushu was certainly worth our appreciation and acknowledgement,” he added.
Wong said the government had always been very supportive of wushu and had even included it as one of the school extracurricular activities, effective this year.
Besides, he said wushu was also one of the core sports for the state government.
“That is why we have wushu elite centre set up in Sibu, Kuching, Miri to scout and train potential wushu exponents,” he said.
Wong added that Sarawak also had 12 wushu exponents taking part in the ongoing Pahang Sukma and they returned triumphantly with 7 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze medals to emerge overall champion in wushu.
Wong concurred that wushu was worth promoting as it was not only martial arts but at the same time, it help to shape and chart the character of an individual into a better person.