GOLD MEDAL PERFORMANCE: Frankie Hii in action for the optional taijiquan.
SIBU: Two wushu exponents who took part in the recent 11th Hong Kong International Wushu Championship have returned with a flourish when they bagged a total of five gold and one silver medals.
Frankie Hii, an undergraduate student, took the gold in optional taijiquan, optional taijijian and duilian while Lau Kiing Fuu secured the gold in dulian, optional jianshu and silver in optional changquan.
Hii, 19, who took part in the championship for the first time, accumulated 8.71 points in taijiquan and 8.70 points in taijijian.
Later, he combined with Lau for the routine duilian to collect the gold medal.
Lau, who took three gold medals in the last championship, could have repeated his feat had he
not fumbled in the optional changquan when he committed an error in the second difficulty movement.
He suffered a penalty of having 0.01 points deducted for that error which eventually robbed him of first place.
Nevertheless, Lau said he was happy with his overall performance and promised to do better next time.
“The results will spur me to train harder as I brace for future and bigger challenges in the wushu fraternity,’ he added.
Sibu Martial Arts (Guanshu) Association (SMAA) chief coach Gilbert Wong, when contacted, expressed satisfaction with the duo’s excellent performance.
Wong said it was never a walk in the park for the two as they had to compete with some top exponents from Singapore, Russia and Hong Kong.
“All the players were in their element and it was never easy to bring back medals, let alone gold medals, with so many countries vying for the titles,” he said.
Wong said he had faith in the two whom he noted were committed and determined to win something for the country.
“All their hard work had paid off with their good results,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wong said SMAA would send 24 exponents for the inaugural Brunei Wushu Championship in Kuala Belait, April 19-22.
The tournament is organised by Brunei Wushu Association in collaboration with Brunei Culture, Youth and Ministry.
Top wushu exponents from Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei are expected to take part.
Wong said the 17 boys and seven girls would compete in the optional routine and standard routine categories which added up to 10 events.
“Most of our players are young and they lack the experience and exposure. We do not have high expectations from them. So long as they can perform to their best ability, that should be enough.”
SMAA president Yung Dah Loo will lead the team.