KUCHING: It will be tough for Sarawak to defend its strong reputation in wushu competition at Sukma XVIII in Perlis next year.
This is because the squad will comprise new faces except for three exponents from the Sukma XVI squad Liew Lik Kee, Andy Chan Song Cong and Amelia Su Leh Wern.
“It will be a very big challenge to defend the title we won in Pahang in 2012 as the gold medallists like Gjeblehem Bong Teck Fuu, Bryan Sony Lah, Ho Jong Xian and Kimberly Goh will not be eligible as they are over-aged,” said WFS head coach James Ting.
Sarawak won seven gold, seven silver and three bronze medals in the 2012 Pahang Sukma.
Ting, who is also Wushu Federation of Sarawak (WFS) deputy president, is concerned with the absence of these gold medallists and the keen competition from other states.
“Melaka, Pulau Pinang and Negeri Sembilan will be our stiffest opponents and to win gold medals against the national exponents from these states will be an uphill task,” he added.
Sarawak now has three exponents Diana Bong Siong Lin, Loh Jack Chang and Gjeblehem Bong in the national squad but they are all over-aged for Sukma competition.
Moreover, Ting said, host Perlis have not stated how many events will the national exponents be allowed to compete in.
WFS will be conducting a selection trial at the end of this month to select six male and six female exponents for the state wushu squad.
“At present, we have 23 exponents in the Sukma Shadow Team and after 12 exponents have been selected, they will undergo a one-month intensive training stint in China next February,” he said.
On the problem of the vacant Chinese foreign coach, Ting said WFS had already submitted a request to engage a new coach from China.
Ting added the other major problem is that WFS is still waiting for the approval from the state government on the application of a piece of land in Samarahan to build its wushu centre.
“We had submitted the application two years ago and until now there is no news on the matter,” he lamented.
The National Sports Council (MSN) has already agreed to set up a national wushu training centre in Sarawak but this plan has been delayed as the approval of the land application to build the wushu centre was not forthcoming.