Tournament Results and Details: 4th World Traditional Wushu Championships Shi Yan China 2010, Golden Lion wins three medals at World Championships

As the National Assistant Coach for the 4th World Traditional Wushu Championships held in October 2010 in Shiyan, China, you will be pleased to know that Golden Lion students Julius Ting, Jason Keane and Trace O’Rourke did their very best as members of the Australian Team competing in the tournament. Justin Wong, who trains at our Rowville centre, came along as an observer in order to gain experience for the next tournament, which will be held in two years time. Below is an account of the tournament.

On October 13th the five of us as Golden Lion representatives and Australian Team members left Melbourne for Hong Kong where we transited for 2 hours and then went on to Wuhan, China. That was a long 15-hour journey. On arrival, we stayed at the New World Hotel in Wuhan. If you ever get to stay at this hotel, you must have the “Wuhan special” for breakfast. It makes travelling worthwhile.

The next day we caught the fast train to the city of Shiyan (in central China) which hosted the World tournament. Shiyan’s population of around 3.5 million people made us all feel very welcome. The city was inundated with paraphernalia of the championship and was involved in the atmosphere. At Shiyan’s train station we were greeted by a welcoming committee that escorted us to the hotel. Julius mentioned that much growth and development had occurred since he attended the previous competition two years ago. Many new buildings and apartments have appeared right across from our hotel. The Argyle Hotel was our home for the next seven days.

What would we do without the locals

The local Shiyan community was very friendly. We were frequently asked for photographs, and the odd autograph. It soon became a competition among us to see who was asked to have the most photos taken. The local community was very enthusiastic about the tournament; in particular the many volunteers who were engaged by the organising committee to help, assist, and promote this bi-annual tournament.

Our itinerary allowed us a day to relax after we arrived in Shiyan. We were the first group of Australian athletes to arrive in Shiyan. The other members of the team would arrive a day later. That night we met Michael from the Canadian team, actually we didn’t meet him-- he met us and tagged with us as the Canadian team was yet to arrive. We heard there were three Canadian teams and if you think that was too many teams for one country, Russia had 8 teams!

Such is the popularity of the tournament. It also means that the tournament is getting tougher and medals are harder to win. So it made my job as the Assistant National Coach much more demanding. Mr Wang Xiaolin, General Secretary of the International Wushu Federation, said “Contestants outnumber those in previous championships, making this year’s event thebiggest ever in the field of Chinese martial arts.”

The good thing about this traditional world tournament is that it gives everyone, young and old, male and female, an opportunity to participate. You compete in your own age group —Under 12 years old, 12 to 18 years old, 18 to 40 years old, 40 to 60 years old, and then the over 60 years old. So there is no excuse. We can train you to qualify for the Ozzie team if you put in the hours needed.

The following day we ventured to the competition stadium, a 10 minute ride by taxi and found out that each team had been allocated some practice floor time. That afternoon we made our way back to the stadium where Julius, Jason and Trace took on the brand new Wushu competition carpet to carry out some practice. Although they each only had about a quarter of the carpet to use, they were often fighting off athletes from other countries who were trying to gate-crash their space. That gave us a chance to get a feel for the carpet; it was so new that it turned Julius’s white shoes green.

That evening, as we wondered around the streets, we found ourselves sneaking into the open air stadium where final preparations for the opening ceremony were being made. We were lucky to glimpse rehearsals for the opening ceremony. You just don’t know what you can stumble on in China!

The rest of the Australian team finally arrived in time for the opening ceremony. Each country was allocated a bus for travel, andalthough the opening ceremony was a block away from our hotel, we were told we had to be driven by bus to avoid the crowds, and for security reasons. Each country lined up backstage behind their respective national flags in readiness for the Athletes parade. We sang well known Aussie chants to express our national pride but we had fierce competition from the Brazilian team. We soon found out that we really needed something better than Aussie Aussie Aussie...Ooi Ooi Ooi.

After opening speeches, the athletes were paraded into the stadium. The Opening ceremony was almost a replica of the Commonwealth or Olympic Games. I was given the honor to carry the national flag, the rest of the team proudly followed waving to the crowd and soaking up the cheers. A proud moment for us at Golden Lion was when Trace made it on the Chinese CCTVtelevision with a big smile on her face holding Dang Dang, the mascot, firmly in her hands. She also made it onto the Chinese Wushu website.

After the parade we were led to our seats for the remaining ceremony. We were entertained by the great Jackie Chan and other famous Chinese actors and singers, a brilliant stage show with awesome martial arts choreography and a spectacular fireworks display. Guess who invented gun powder? It was all very impressive!

The following day there were meetings where the rules of the competition were read to reinforce the Traditional part of the competition and the keeping of the Wushu spirit. Later that afternoon, an impromptu team meeting was held to pass on the information to everyone.

Chaos on the first day of competition

The next morning was the first day of competition. It was chaotic in the hotel, breakfast was even more chaotic. Competition started from 8.30am each morning and went on until later in the evening.

My role as Assistant Coach included helping everyone throughout their event. I was up at 6am to take the bus at 7.30am to be at the stadium for 8.30am competition. Then back to the hotel at 11.30am for lunch, meet the bus at 1pm to the stadium for the 2pm session and finish at 4.30pm. Then back again to the hotel for dinner by 5.30pm on again on the bus at 6.30pm for the 7pm session finishing at 10.30pm. That went on for days!

For Julius, Jason and Trace, they would find out if their hard work would pay off during the next three days. For Trace and Jason, it was their first international competition, although both have competed many times in Australia. Four carpeted arenas occupied the stadium floor with non-stop action.

Competitors took part in over 300 events including Nan Quan Southern Kung Fu, Shaolin kung fu, Wudang boxing, Tai Chi Chuan and various weapon routines. We saw some amazing performances and some strange weapons. A stand out was a local Chinese boy using a Pu Dao with such precision that he brought the whole stadium down with a thunderous applause. At only 6 years of age he is going to be a future star. The final evening of competition was the group category with some performances mixing a blend of tai chi and Wushu. That was also inspiring.

Golden Lion won 3 medals: two bronze and one silver

Trace O’Rourke was first to compete with our Southern Broadsword in the short weapon category. It is always very hard to be the first one to go on the floor and being her first World Tournament, Trace missed out by .02 for Bronze. Nevertheless she did us proud the next day when she won a Bronze Medal for our Southern Barehands Form. Trace says “the highlight for me was to see Jackie Chan at the opening ceremony and to hear him sing, the second was to get onto that special green Wushu competition carpet and to finally get my first event completed in the competition. All the months of training coming to a close, for now anyway.”

Jason Keane won a Silver Medal with our Pu Dao in the Long Weapon category and also won a Bronze Medal for our Barehands Form. Jason says “the highlights for me was when I went on the floor to compete. Knowing that a year of hard training is about to come down to one form lasting just over a minute. The second was when we walked on the red carpet for the opening ceremony under the Australia flag with 10,000 people watching us.”

Julius Ting competed with Southern Broadsword and our Three Ancestors Barehands. A previous silver and bronze medals winner in 2008 World Tournament, he marginally missed out this time by 0.5 points. His division was much tougher this year. Using his previous competition experience, it was good to see Julius provide much support and assistance to both Trace and Jason.

Julius says “For me, the highlight was being able to witness the variety of forms from a variety of countries and Chinese provinces. It’s not often you get the opportunity to witness unique weapons and barehand forms. Another highlight was walking into the stadium for the opening ceremony and when the Australian team was introduced. It’s always a unique opportunity to represent your country, an opportunity that not a lot of people get the chance to do.”

I commend them on all their hard work for the championships – they did Golden Lion proud – that’s …YOU (and me of course). Thanks also to Justin Wong (who came along as an observer) for helping out everyone in times of need. Although we may not have all returned with the medals we were dreamed of, we all have come back with valuable experiences we will never forget.

Future Tournaments

On our final day in Shiyan, all the athletes were taken to the famous Mount Wudang. That’s the same place they filmed the popular movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Wudang Mountain was shrouded in mist. Although visibility was poor, you could see about 100 meters ahead, which might not have been too bad as some team members are scared of heights. The time we spent in this quiet spiritual martial arts place gave us all moments we will treasure forever. What an experience!

If you have a desire, even just a very small desire, to one day compete in a World Tournament and experience it for yourself, then I definitely recommend you join us in our special Tuesday night Forms and Routines Class at Rowville (see the section about Specialist Classes in this newsletter).

I believe that by going to this World Competition we have all learned more about ourselves and each other; we have all been inspired by the best in the world and more importantly, we’ve come back with a new direction, a new focus and new challenges for our future in the martial arts at Golden Lion. And many thanks to the Golden Lion Academy for giving all of us the opportunity to excel ourselves in life.

I believe our Sigungs Charles and Richard Tsui-Po, and our Dai Sifu, Dr Pier Tsui-Po, have already set goals for the 5th World Traditional Wushu Championships in 2012. Preparations will begin early next year.

Are you up to it? Let me know if you are.

Sifu Steeve Kiat

PS: If you'd like to read a narrative of their stories for that tournament plus a chance to reflect on our own inspirations for kung fu training here's the link: Martial Arts Kung Fu Wu Shu China 2010 Competition: Golden Lion students selected and Sifu Steeve Kiat National Assistant Coach

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