The 10th World Wushu Championship will be held on October 24 to 29, 2009 at Toronto's Ricoh Coliseum. Mr. Zaiqing Yu with multiple responsibilities as Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, Vice-Minister in charge of the General Administration of Sport (China)and President of the International Wushu Federation was on hand in Toronto to review the progress of the preparation.
Master Jennifer Gu, Vice-President of the Ji Hong Wushu and Taichi College was invited as the Alberta representative to welcome Mr. Yu, the distinguished guest, in Toronto.
Mr. Sunny Tang, President of The Confederation of Canadian Wushu Organizations(CCWO), and provincial representatives and the members of the organizing committee accompanied Mr. Jaiqing Yu during his inspection of the competition sites and the accommodation facilities on March 28, 2009. That evening, a news conference was held in a Markham restaurant to officially launch the preparation work for the 10th World Wushu championship.
Mr. Yu expressed confidence in Toronto as the host city. He found the facilities satisfactory and fully expects that the tournament will showcase the culture, spirits and the educational aspect of Wushu.
The World Wushu championships, sanctioned by the International Wushu Federation, have been held every second year. The 1st Championship was held in Beijing in October of 1991. This year is the 10th championship. Close to a hundred countries and 1500 athletes will participate in this great world event.
The Confederation of Canadian Wushu Organizations participated in the 3rd World Wushu Championship as a provisional member of IWUF. It became a full member of the IWUF in 1997. Since then, the organization has hosted the national team selection every two years to compete in the World Wushu championships and the Pan American Wushu championships. In 1997 and 2005, the Alberta Wushu Association and the Ji Hong Wushu and Taichi College jointly hosted successfully the National Team Selection tournaments in Edmonton.
Master Jennifer Gu commented that the Canadian Wushu National Team selection competitions represent the highest levels of Wushu and Sanshou in Canada. Canadian Wushu schools that offer competitive Wushu programs will place teams in the tournament. The selection processes will produce 5 male and 5 female athletes completing in Wushu Taolu, and 6 male and 4 female athletes in the Sanshou category to compete in the World Championship.
In the last few years, the competitive levels of Canadian athletes have advanced rapidly. They have won medals in the World Wushu championships. The competitions at the National Selection tournament, in particular at the Taolu events have been fierce. Since 1995, 24 Alberta athletes have been selected to the National teams. Among them, 19 have been from the Ji Hong Wushu and Taichi College.
Currently, athletes from the provinces are ramping up their practice in preparation for the national team selection tournament in August, Toronto. To insure the smooth completion of the competition within two ays, Sanshou regulations for this tournament will limit the number of athletes for each weight class to two from each province. More details are to be published at later dates.