State aims to top national junior wushu meet

 

Lee (centre, back row) presents the state flag to Ma (second left, back row) while (from left) MSNS    coordinator for wushu Thomas Chia, Ting, permanent secretary to Ministry of Social Development 

Affandi Keli, Kong, KPS principal assistant secretary (sports) Mering Wan and others look on. — Photo by Teo Chi Wei

KUCHING: Sarawak are aiming to capture the overall championship title at the 4th Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia (KPM) National Junior Wushu Championship at Stadium Bandaraya Johor Bahru in Johor from Mar 28-30.
The state’s challenge is shouldered by 26 exponents ranging from nine to 18 years old and they will be competing in the A, B, C and D categories.
Spearheading the team are 12-year-old Fu Wen Jie who has just represented Malaysia at the 5th World Junior Wushu Championship in Turkey from Mar 11-18, and Yong Arifah Khairul Kok, 15, and 13-year-old Felicia Ma Hui Qi who had competed in the 7th Asian Junior Wushu Championship in Philippines last August.
Fu has been entered for Girls C changquan, jianshu and qiangshu.
Yong Arifah will be bidding for medals in Girls B taijiquan and taijijian while Felicia will be competing in Group D changquan.
“We are not sending any Sukma or national exponents this time because we want to give the newcomers a chance to display their capabilities in the national arena,” said coach Ling Ung Hee.
The coach at Sarawak State Sports Council’s Centre of Excellence for Wushu, Kuching said the state juniors are all geared up to pose a strong challenge in this year’s championship.
Although Sarawak did not field a full team last year, they still managed to finish third overall with five gold, eight silver and 16 bronze medals.
They were second with 13 golds, 15 silvers and 5 bronzes in 2012.
Meanwhile, the Sarawak team, led by Wushu Federation of Sarawak (WFS) deputy president James Ting, paid a courtesy call on Assistant Sports Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin at his office at Bangunan Baitul Makmur in Petra Jaya yesterday.
Lee, who is also Assistant Communications Minister, gave words of encouragement and urged the exponents to do their very best for the state and return with top honours.
“Wushu has always been traditionally one of the top sports and we have achieved good results at Sukma and I hope all of you will go for gold medals and become the national champions to maintain our status as the wushu powerhouse in the country,” he told the exponents.
“We are hoping to promote wushu as a sport in not only Chinese schools but also national schools,” he added.
He urged WFS to expand their wushu development programmes to all schools in the state.
Currently, wushu is being taught in 78 primary and secondary schools in the state.
Lee later presented the state colours to the contingent team manager Jackson Ma and coach Ling Ung Hee.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/03/27/state-aims-to-top-national-junior-wushu-meet/#ixzz2xEO5VCmQ