GOLDEN DOUBLE: Kelly Shu won the gold in nandao and nangun at the National Wushu Championship.
KUCHING: Wushu, Lion and Dragon Dance Federation of Sarawak is confident that Sarawak wushu exponents can perform well at Sukma XV in Kuantan, Pahang in July next year.
WFS secretary James Ting said the association’s confidence was based on the excellent showing by the state’s wushu shadow team members at the recent National Wushu Championship in Ipoh, Perak.
“We fielded 10 potential Sukma exponents in the national meet and they captured six gold medals from the taolu events which are competed in Sukma,” said Ting.
The performance of debutants in the national meet was very encouraging, with Kelly Shu bagging two golds and one each from Bryan Sony Lah, Amelia Su and Liew Lik Kee while national exponent Gjeblehem Bong also won a gold.
Others who also competed in the meet were Jarvis Lau, Audrey Chan, Andy Chan, Daniel Sim and Kimberly Goh who contributed to Sarawak’s five silvers and seven bronzes in the taolu events.
Judging from this good result, Ting believes that Sarawak will dominate the wushu competition in the next Malaysia Games.
“However, it will all depend on every exponent’s form on competition day,” he said, adding that the state had never stopped preparing for Sukma.
The Sarawak exponents were already back in training a week after Sukma XIII in Melaka in June 2010.
Ting said WFS emphasised on the continuity of exponents and the consistency of its well-run development programme had yielded many good calibre athletes for all competitions ranging from Malaysian Schools Sports Council, National Day Martial Arts Championship, National Wushu Championship and Sukma.
“We are never short of talent. In fact, we are already grooming athletes to take up the challenges in Sukma 2014 and in 2016 when Sarawak plays host,” he said.
Another factor which is much to Sarawak’s advantage is that many national exponents from other states would be overaged for next year’s Sukma.
Ting said Sarawak would also be boosted with the timely arrival of a second foreign coach from China to help elite coach Huang Shaoxiong with the training of Sukma exponents.
“The 37-year-old female coach from Guangxi, Zhong Xiao will take care of the training for the exponents in taijijian, tajiquan, jianshu and qiangshu events so that Huang can focus on the changquan, nanquan and other events,” he said.
Presently, there are 22 members in the state Sukma Shadow team.
Ting said the outing at the national meet was also a very good exposure for the state shadow team members.
“We are also planning to send them to China for a training stint next year for further exposure,” he disclosed.
Apart from that, the exponents will compete in the Malaysian Schools Sports Council KPM Wushu Championship (formerly known as the National Junior Championship) in Ipoh, Perak, next March.