Staged at Singapore’s Jurong East Sports & Cultural Centre, the 3rd World Junior Wushu Championship drew to successful close in early December of 2010. Alberta athletes scored outstanding results winning 3 medals. Brianna Chan of Ji Hong Wu Shu & Tai Chi College single-handedly captured 1 silver and 1 bronze for Canada!
Organized by the International Wushu Federation and hosted by the Singapore Wushu Dragon & Lion Dance Federation, the tournament ran from December 2nd to 9th. A total of 736 guests, among them athletes, judges and coaches participated in events covering 25 taolu and 12 sanshou events.
The Canadian Junior Wushu Team of 6 boys and 6 girls and several Sanshou athletes were selected through the Canadian Wushu selection competition held in Toronto on September 25th of 2010. Among them are three Ji Hong students from Alberta. Brianna took 3 gold medals at the competition. Eric Duong took 1 gold and 2 silver. Both were selected to the national taolu A group. Alvin Chiang from Ji Hong’s Calgary school made it to the national Sanshou team.
The World Junior Wushu Championship is a biannual event. The 1st was held in Malaysia in 2006 and the 2nd in Indonesia in 2008. At this championship, the 3rd in Singapore, the two major divisions are taolu and sanshou. The taolu division was further divided into three groups: Group A (ages 16-18), Group B (ages 13-15) and Group C (ages 12 and under). Each country was allowed to send two athletes in each group. In the Sanshou division, the boys competed in 8 weight categories, and the girls in 4 weight categories.
Led by Master Jennifer Gu of Ji Hong College, this being her 8th time as the national taolu coach, the team (12 athletes from Ontario and Alberta) left for Singapore on November 30th 2010. After several days of intense competition, Brianna’s stand-out performance won her a silver in Nanquan. Her score of 9.55 was better than many of the full-time athletes from Asian countries, and second only to the Chinese who took the gold. On the following day, Brianna continued her winning way by capturing the bronze medal in Nangun. Brianna’s achievements were the tops in the Canadian team.
In all, the Canadian team took home 2 silver and 3 bronze for a total of 5 medals. Among them are the two contributed by Brianna’s outstanding performance. Congratulations to all!