10th World Wushu Games

[GeneChing]

They're in Canada this year, in case you didn't know.

Official 10th World Wushu Games site

[GeneChing]

Read U.S. Wushu Team 2009 by Sue Woo. Once again, our charitable branch, the Tiger Claw Foundation, is an official sponsor of our American athletes competing in the WWG.

[David Jamieson]

big doin's for wushu peeps this coming week.

check it:

wushu championships


KFQG info here

[GeneChing]

Does woo-hoo for wushu remind you of coo-coo for cocoa puffs?

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Woo-hoo for Wushu
It's an ancient Chinese secret -- and a sport
By MIKE GANTER, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 21st October 2009, 1:49pm

It rolls off the tongue easier than hockey, football or baseball, yet the sport of wushu remains -- in North America at least -- very much a niche sport.

For those curious about sports other than the ones that dominate the nightly highlight reels, this presents an opportunity for a new experience that includes the best practitioners of this particular sport when the world wushu championships begin Saturday at the Ricoh Coliseum.

Toronto is hosting the 10th world championships, which run through Oct. 29. Over 1,500 athletes from more than 80 countries will compete in the six-day tournament.

AT THE MOVIES

A good number of Canadians probably have experienced wushu at some level, most likely at the theatre where the likes of Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee have exposed the rest of the world to this treasure of Chinese culture. But for most in these parts, the mention of wushu brings only blank stares.

Alan Tang would like to change that.

Wushu, which translated literally means martial arts, is a two-pronged sport. On the one side is the sparring and combative side known as sanshou. The other group of wushu is taolu, which contains more ritualistic elements performed in precise routines. Of the two, Canadians are far more advance in taolu where Canada is considered a top-10 nation. Sanshou is growing in popularity here but remains in its infant stages.

Tang, chairperson of the host organizing committee, is a lifelong practitioner, follower and lover of all things wushu, and being able to bring the world championships to his own backyard speaks to his passion and dedication to the sport.

Tang uses Canada's two main winter sports to best describe the two forms of his choice of sport.

"Like figure skating, taolu is routine-based while sansho, which translates as 'free fighting' -- is more like hockey."

Kitchener's Zack George is Canada's top Sanshou practitioner. This will be his third world championships, but second as a competitor.

"This will really put a face to the sport," George said of having the world's right here in Canada. And while the odds are long for Canada to come away with any medal in the Sanshou side of the competition, George goes in with plenty of confidence.

"We hope the draw goes well -- a ray of light comes down from heaven and you draw a country you match up well against," he said. "But everybody has a puncher's chance. If you can throw a kick and a punch, you do have a chance. Mentally, whoever is confident and prepared to stand in there in front of such intimidating fighters stands a chance."

Realistically Canada's best chance of a medal comes in taolu, where 18-year-old Margherita Cina of Mississauga already has succeeded on the world stage.

She's a two-time world junior gold medallist in the sport and is the current Canadian champion.

"Marguerita is a perfect example that wushu is not about (where you're from) but it's about dedication and training, and she has excelled to the point where she is the top female athlete in our country," says Chan, who has been coaching Cina for the past 15 years.

Tickets for this event are available at Ticketmaster.

[lkfmdc]

The event finally comes back to this side of the planet, but by now, I really don't care, that is sort of sad... well, not as sad as the "US San Shou Team" is going to do, but you know....

[GeneChing]

...but I heard Elaina dropped out.

Here's the U.S. Team:
Taolu Team: Sarah Chang, Ashley Chung, Peter Dang, Max Ehrlich, Elaine Ho, Alfred Hsing, Stephanie Lim, Joana Pei, Colvin Wang, Alan Zhao
Sanshou Team: Gary Chandler, Maximillion Chen, Alex Cisne, Kasey Corless, Michael Lee, Elaina Maxwell, Sonia Mejia, J.R. Ridge, Josh Simpson

[lkfmdc]

Max is the only one with international competition experience, in fact the only one with "real experience" (ie Max has like 60 fights by now)... as I am sure you know, the russian, Iranian, Chinese, Korean, etc teams those guys are all VERY EXPERIENCED, many are actually pro fighters. Putting guys with 2 to 3 fights against them is unethical (though last time they put guys with NO fights in there, which should have been criminal)

[GeneChing]

50,000 spectators? Really?

Major six-day martial event at Ricoh
10th annual World Wushu Championships opening ceremony Saturday night
And everybody was kung fu fighting, so the old '70s song goes, and that's exactly what they'll be doing over the next few days at Ricoh Coliseum as a major, international martial arts event is set to take place.

Well, actually, it won't only be fighting, as there is also a non-fighting choreographed forms component that is part of the 10th Annual World Wushu Championships, which kicks off at the coliseum on Saturday, Oct. 24 with what organizers are promising to be a spectacular opening ceremonies from 7 to 10 p.m.

Competition then runs from Sunday to Thursday.

Organizers are expecting more than 50,000 spectators to take in the proceedings, which are expected to attract more than 1,500 athletes from more than 85 countries.

Saturday night's opening ceremonies will feature select entertainment artists and martial arts masters with the highlight of the evening a showcase by China's official Wushu performance troupe, a team of hand selected performers chosen from the elite medal winners of the 2009 All China Games.

Besides the competition, the adjacent Direct Energy Centre will be home to an audience friendly Wushu expo including a public display of training by the athletes as well as interactive booths with a special exhibit of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo in addition to a Wushu museum and cultural exhibit from China.

For more info or tickets, visit www.wushucanada.com

Late MEA clearance ousts India from World Wushu Championship
STAFF WRITER 15:14 HRS IST

Bhopal, Oct 21 (PTI) A delayed tour clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs has prevented 17 Indian players from competing in the 10th World Wushu Championship starting October 24 in Toronto.

"The Indian contingent got the MEA clearance yesterday and the hard copy of it is expected to reach our office today," Wushu Association of India (WAI) Secretary Manish Kakkad told PTI from Lucknow.

"We sought the MEA clearance two months back. Moreover, we can't get visas and tickets in two days adding that at least 5-10 days are needed for this work," he said.

"It was not so easy to complete these formalities in a short period, especially when trips are taken to US and Canada. We have missed a very important event because of the delay in the MEA clearance," Kakkad added.

He said that 17 players, four coaches and two technical staff were scheduled to go to Canada.

Delay forces Wushu Team to miss tour
Submitted by Jatin Malhotra on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 14:04.

World Wushu ChampionshipIndia’s challenge in the 10th World Wushu Championship slated to be held in Toronto from October 24 ended even before it had begun. A delay in permission to the 14-member contingent to participate in the event, forced the team to miss the event.

The Wushu Association of India had sought clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs for the tour about a couple of months ago but approval came on Tuesday, just four days before the world championship. The delay has made it virtually impossible for the association to arrange for visa and book seats in flights to Toronto.

Manish Kakkad, secretary of the association, said that the travel agent expressed inability to arrange for visa in such a short time.

“Though the approval letter from MEA was received on Tuesday, other requirements for the journey to Toronto including visa and tickets could not be arranged. Which is why the tour for the World Championship has been cancelled,” he said.

The national squad for the championship included Gangapati Chanu, silver medallist of the last event held in Beijing in 2007 and Bimoljeet Singh, bronze medallist in Doha (2006) Asian Games.

The Union Sports Ministry had claimed to have accorded priority status to the sport following success of Bimoljeet Singh in Doha. The players had been camping at the Central Regional Centre of SAI here since September 5.

It's a shame the jiayo forum is down now.

[xcakid]

Is Tiffany Chen not competing anymore? I'm outta touch....

[uki]

so "world games" stems from which time period?? the world has had many of games that were named not...

[lkfmdc]

Originally Posted by GeneChing

50,000 spectators? Really?

I am guessing, "no, NOT really"... in 1995 in Baltimore I think there was like 40 people in the entire stadium... wow was that a disaster

[David Jamieson]

It depends on how they promote it.

As it is in downtown Toronto and is running over 5 days 50k is not much to expect to be cruising through there.

If the part of the venue with the expo is free,then they will get 50k people easy through there.

GTA has about 5.5 million people and there's a few million more around that.

[uki]

yet news media will not provide honest answers... more people are concerned with the next american idol, let alone who can dance like a fairy with mittens on.

[David Jamieson]

Originally Posted by uki

yet news media will not provide honest answers... more people are concerned with the next american idol, let alone who can dance like a fairy with mittens on.

so what? who cares?

[SPJ]

I am in support of any kind of events that are related to CMA.

no interests in politics.

may the best team win.

I really do not like the nan du things.

here are why:

1. if you are promoting wushu for common people, you would make it easy so more people may learn and enjoy it.

such as Yang tai chi made easier without a lot of kicks, and stomping feet, so that 80 some years old may do it, too.

2. they should have wushu events for different age brackets

such as kids wushu, teen wushu, college or young adult wushu, middle age wushu and senior wushu.

since wushu is a communist idea, then why not make it available to everyone.

and not just for the elite kids chosen since young, hours of rigorous training from 5 to 6 years old all the way to 16 in wushu schools for years, and then compete--

so wushu is for athletic elites and not for everyone?