2010 SportAccord Games and Wushu-China's National Sport!
By admin on 2015-01-16

Seventh level Wushu Master, Mr. He Jing De, originally from Shandong Province, China. His abilities have propelled him right into winning countless national and international gold medal titles, also performances alongside revered Wushu masters such as Bruce Lee and Jet Li.

The Beijing Olympic Village will get a fresh crowd of sports enthusiasts this weekend at the first ever 2010 SportAccord Combat Games, which begin on Saturday and run until September 4th.

The 2010 SportAccord Combat Games will feature an elite group of dedicated male and female athletes who practice 13 martial arts and combat sports, both Olympic and non-Olympic.

The best martial artists in the world will take part, including those who practice China's national sport of wushu.

This year's games, or "Wu Buo Hui" in Chinese, are a poignant event for those practicing wushu, as it is included in the competition with other martial arts, even though it is not an official Olympic sport like many of the others.

Some of the most able, dedicated and passionate martial artists from all over the world will be participating and showing that this Wushu and other martial arts are simply not hobbies that people do in their spare time.

Marguerita Cina from Toronto, fifth place winner of Women's Changquan at the event last year, says it's also about making the most of experience with the people involved in a non-competitive way as well.

Some of the athletes have made a career out of wushu, such as seventh-level Blue Dragon Wushu master He Jing De, originally from Shandong Province.

His abilities have helped him win countless national and international gold medal titles. He also has performed with revered wushu master Jet Li.

Even for He, the SportAccord Combat Games are something new.

"This game is called "Wu Buo." It is the first time different martial arts like jujitsu, karate, taekwondo are used (together) for fighting. So this (is the first time that) these games have appeared in Beijing. They include martial arts people who qualified (for the Games) last year."

Alan Tang, coach of the Canadian national wushu team, says wushu's inclusion in the event adds something special to it.

"It's the only sport that has a performance element and a combative element, and I think that that's something the Chinese people are very proud of."

Wushu is actually quite young as a sport, but is comprised of some of China's most revered martial arts such as taiqi and gongfu. But Tang who's from Toronto says wushu has recently evolved.

"The most special thing about being involved with wushu through competition is seeing the development of the sport for the time that I've been involved with it, seeing the growth of the sport internationally with the sport that has begun in China so popular in the world but now being able to flourish as a competitive event. And I feel it is a very positive and insightful experience seeing something grow rather than jumping into it when it's already at its peak, so we have seen the development of the sport over many, many years."

Selene Tsang from Toronto ranked fifth place at the 2009 World Wushu Championships last year in Women's Nanquan and says it's about more than finding the time.

At the Beijing games, athletes must compete with and without weapons in events within wushu's two disciplines, taolu and sanshou.

Taolu is carefully choreographed and incorporates specific jumps, spins, and kicks graded on a point-value system.

Sanshou is actual combat fighting for self-defense without weapons.

Each athlete has a style preference such as taijiquan or nanquan and masters certain weapons such as staffs and spears, knives and swords, or barehanded fist styles.

Training for competition is grueling and incorporating wushu into one's daily life isn't always easy since most of the athletes are still in school.

Selene Tsang from Toronto ranked fifth place in women's nanquan at the 2009 World Wushu Championships last year. She says practitioners of the sport often find it difficult to find time to train.

"Usually, for wushu we train at night, so usually school would be in the morning and the afternoon. We'd go back and have dinner and then go train. I work part-time and I also teach martial arts part-time as well, so sometimes on weekends I teach beginners from twelve to two then train my last two hours with my kids. You just have to find a way to incorporate training while you're doing other things."

Timothy Hung is also on the Canadian team from Toronto and undaunted by the competition and happy to be with his team in China. He won third place in Men's Nanquan at the 2009 World Wushu Championships.

Undoubtedly, years of discipline and training will lead to defining moments. But Marguerita Cina from Toronto, the fifth-place winner in women's changquan at last year's event, says it's also about making the most of the experience with the people involved in a non-competitive way.

"I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most is just seeing all the other athletes again because we always see each other at the other competitions. The competition will be good, but we're here more for fun because now that we're all in school, it gets a lot harder to train—really hard—all the time. So it's good to come to these things, and compete and see everyone. "

Timothy Hung is also on the Canadian team from Toronto. He says he is undaunted by the competition and happy to be with his team in China.

He tries not to get too stressed out, because his mission is simple.

"At World's, I got third place, and once again, it's taking the best people from Worlds and putting them into one competition. So this time, I want to get first this time."

Those curious or enthusiastic about wushu will have a chance on Saturday to see masters like He Jing De alongside some of the best wushu athletes in the world at the first ever SportAccord Combat Games at Beijing's Olympic Village.