Official Website of Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council
NEWS & EVENTS
Wushu: Training hard for the SEA Games
Tuesday, September 6, 2011


File picture of the athletes training
in Shanghai. Picture: Courtesy of
Li Hui

They understand that success cannot be achieved without sacrifices.

Three national wushu athletes Faustina Woo Wai Sii, Lee YingShi and Karyn Ho Chia Yin under the guidance of national wushu coach Li Hui are currently undergoing intensive training with the best in Tianjin, China.

They remained in China after competing at the 6th Asian Junior Wushu Championships in Shanghai, China last month, where the duo of Lee and Ho bagged the Sultanate's only gold medal at the Aug 19-21 competition in the duilian (duo sparring with broadsword and spear) event.

Being shortlisted as one of the sports to fly the flag for Brunei at the 26th Southeast Asian (Sea) Games in Indonesia in November, the aim of the intensive training is to improve chances of winning medals at the said competition.

The trio go through two training sessions in a day and things are going smoothly according to Lee.

"Training is not bad and we have got improvements. We are learning a lot from here like new movements and jumps," said Lee when contacted by The Brunei Times recently.

"The Chinese athletes are really good. It (training) is tiring but we are not to the max yet but it should be soon," she added.

This is the second intensive training programme for the three of them this year as the Wushu Federation of Brunei Darussalam (WFBD) had sent six of their athletes to Shanghai, China for intensive training for a 40-day stint at the end of April.

Being away from home for long periods of time can be deemed difficult to some but Lee felt that they are coping well.

"It is not that difficult being away from home as we are already used to it and it is not the first time having to be away from home for this long. The only thing we have to do is training.

"There are no worries about food, living and money too. We will have to thank the JBS (Department of Youth and Sports) for their full support of us going overseas for training as well," added the 17-year-old.

It comes as no surprise as the duo of Woo and Lee are working on improving their duilian event in the morning sessions.

They had won the Sultanate's only silver medal in the same event at the 25th SEA Games in Laos in 2009.

They then continue training with their single events in the afternoons.

Woo is working on "nanquan" (southern fist), "nangun" (southern cudgel) and "nandao" (southern broad sword) while Lee is putting work into "changquan" (long fist).

Two events are in the works for Ho in both sessions which are "jianshu" (swordplay) and "qiangshu".

The wushu national side have been delivering on almost every occasion they are competing overseas.

Amongst those achievements include their team returning with four gold, four silver and four bronze medals at the Xinjiang International Wushu Tournament in China from May 13-15. WFBD is now eyeing the 11th World Wushu Championships in Turkey from Oct 6-15.

Courtesy from Brunei Times