Hopes high for Pinoy wushu artists

With a team bannered by former world champion Mark Rosales, expect the country’s top wushu artists to deliver in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games the same way they did in the previous stagings of the biennial event.

"We’ve continuously worked hard for this SEA Games," said Rosales, winner of the gold medal in the cudgel play of the 1997 world championships in Italy, during the RP delegation’s courtesy call on President Arroyo in Malacañang last Thursday.

Rosales is just one of 11 wushu artists who will see action in the Malaysian capital as they try to match or even surpass the six gold medals they won in the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta where they emerged as one of the biggest medal winners for the country.

Wushu was scrapped in the 1995 and 1999 stagings of the SEA Games. When the country hosted the event in 1991, the Nationals won 10 of the 14 gold medals at stake before hauling six gold medals in Singapore two years later.

This year, wushu coach Edwin Pimentel said their association, led by Julian Camacho and Francis Chan, is just as optimistic. "But we don’t want to make any predictions on how many gold medals we can win. Hopefully, we can deliver. We’re very confident going to Kuala Lumpur," he said.

Of the gold medalists in the 1999 Brunei Games, only Bobby Co will be around in Kuala Lumpur since the rest have retired from active competition. "But some of them are still with us to help and we’ve never run out of gold medal potentials," said Pimentel.

The other members of this year’s squad are Jerome Calica, Rexel Nganhayna, Eduardo Polayang, Marques Sangiao, Alvin Ting, Willy Wang, Janice Hung, May Lim and Lily So. Also joining them are team manager Cuan Chan and another coach in Samson Co.

Also boosting Rosales' bid this year is the fact that he was tapped to carry the RP flag in a separate opening ceremony in Penang. Rower Benjie Tolentino will carry the flag in the Kuala Lumpur opener and taekwondo jin Roberto Cruz in Johore Baru.

Pimentel, a bronze medalist in the 1991 SEAG, said after the SEA Games our wushu athletes will immediately start their preparations for next year’s Asian Games in Korea where competition "is a lot different and a lot tougher."

Since the 2008 Games will be held in Beijing, Pimentel said their association is now looking forward to wushu’s possible inclusion as an Olympic sport.