Ashleigh (centre) on the podium at the Karnival Bakat Kebangsaan wushu competition last year.
KUCHING: The Wushu Federation of Sarawak (WFS) is continuously grooming talented athletes to ensure continuity of athletes for the state Sukma team.
One such athlete is 14-year- old Ashleigh Wan Kar Yue who is a Year 8 student of the St Joseph’s Private International School.
Ashleigh is also in the state backup squad and did very well in both state and national competitions for the past two years.
She started taking up wushu when she was 11 where she joined Sarawak State Sports Council elite coach Ling Ung Hee’s wushu class at St Joseph’s Private National School.
2019 was a fruitful year for Ashleigh as she won three gold and one silver medals in the Karnival Bakat Kebangsaan wushu competition.
In the Series 1 of the competition in Kuala Lumpur, Ashleigh won the gold in 42-style taijiquan and 42-style taijijian.
In Series 2, she clinched gold in the 42-Style taijiquan and silver in the 42-Style taijijian.
She is also a two-year consecutive champion in both categories in the first and second editions of the Sarawak International Wuwang Cup Invitational Championship in 2018 and 2019.
“I am hoping of achieving more success at a higher level and represent Sarawak in Sukma and one day represent the country in SEA Games and World Junior Wushu Championship.
“To achieve my target, l believe l need to compete and gain more experience in more national and international competitions,” she said.
She has not regretted dropping music (playing violin) for wushu and said learning wushu was not only fun but had made her a fitter, more confident and disciplined person.
“I also made many friends through participating in wushu training and competitions. Furthermore, my spoken Chinese has also improved a lot,” she added.
During the Movement Control Order (CMO) and Conditional MCO period, Ashleigh has not stayed idle at home.
“I am very grateful and thankful to my coach (Ling) for conducting wushu lessons through video call and I just can’t wait to get back to the training centre at the WFS premises in Tabuan Laru.
“This is because the space for training at home is rather limited and the personal touch of the coaching is missing,” she said.