Sibu set for Borneo International Martial Art Tournament

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Sibu Indoor Stadium set to showcase wushu prowess by international wushu exponents.

SIBU: The stage is all set for some 400 international martial artists to showcase their skills at the two-day 7th Borneo International Martial Art Tournament to be held at Sibu Indoor Stadium, starting tomorrow.

Teams include those from China, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Macau, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, and Melaka.

Categories include the traditional long and short weapons, duilian, chengshi taijiquan and the optional changquan, optional nanquan and optional taijiquan.

The champions of the respective categories will bring home RM600, plus a trophy and certificate.

On top of that, the top three winners from the optional changquan, nanquan and taijiquan will qualify for the ‘Winner versus Winners’ category which offers a separate prize money of RM1,000.

The tournament, jointly organised by Sibu Martial Arts (Quanshu) Association (SMAA) and Sarawak Chenshi Taijiquan Association, is one of the Visit Sibu Year 2017 events.

SMAA president Yung Dah Looh said it was the first time the event is organised on such a grand scale and he called for support from the public.

“Lend us your support by coming to watch the show and together, we can make Sibu proud,” he said.

Admission is free.

Temenggong Dato Vincent Lau Lee Ming is expected to declare open the competition on July 22 at 2pm while Second Finance Minister and Minister of International Trade and E-commerce Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh will grace the closing on July 23 at 3pm.

Yesterday, Yung led a delegation to call on Lau.

“Wushu is getting popular in this part of the world,” Lau told his visitors whom he asked to continue with their efforts to promote the art of wushu.

Meanwhile, four kungfu and wushu masters, including one each from China Fukien Province and Macau, are expected to be here during the championship to talk on wushu development.

They are also expected to hold a meeting with local wushu exponents and share with them information on wushu and other Chinese martial arts currently being promoted worldwide.