Wushu out to better 4-gold haul

Next to athletics, local officials pick wushu as the next discipline with the materials and talent to deliver the gold medals for Team Philippines in the 22nd Southeast Asian Games which unwraps this week in Vietnam.

Edwin Pimentel, secretary-general of the wushu association, is hopeful of his wards’ chances in the 11-nation meet as they try to surpass the four-gold medal haul in the 2001 edition of the biennial regional competitions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"Definitely we have a very strong chance of surpassing the four gold medals we won in Kuala Lumpur," said Pimentel, who is also part of the national coaching staff headed by the Chinese pair of Cheng Lu Jian and Bo Yu Zhi.

"We have the capability of taking home six gold medals, eight if we’re lucky. But of course, we really don’t want to predict. These are just strong possibilities," he added.

Leading the charge for the Nationals, who are training six hours daily, five days a week before leaving for Hanoi on Dec. 6, are Arvin Ting and Rene Catalan, who are coming off golden feats in seventh World Championships held last month in Macau, China.

Ting, who also captured a bronze medal in the 2002 Busan Asian Games, topped the broadsword routine while Catalan ruled the 48-kg division of sanshou, a contact event of the sport which originated in Mainland China.

Willy Wang and Lily So, the two others who won the golds in Malaysia, are also heavily favored to rule their respective events. Wang is competing in spear routine while So in nanquan, Southerm Broadsword and Southern Cudgel.

But it won’t be easy for the Filipino campaigners who will take center stage Dec. 10.

"The toughest challenge will come from host Vietnam and Myanmar. Vietnam because they have the experience and wushu is really popular there. Myanmar because of the tremendous support by its government," said Pimentel.

In fact, Pimentel said, Myanmar has produced a gold medalist in the Busan Asiad in the Tai chi event.

Aside from their experience, the Vietnamese are expected to count on the proverbial homecourt advantage.

But the Filipinos are raring to show their stuff with Sanshou’s Rexel Nganhayna (56-kg), Eduard Folayang (70-kg), Eric Kelly (65kg), Lester Canisi (52-kg) and Lester Pasiwat (60-kg) fancied to lead the gold-medal hunt. Nganhayna and Folayang bagged silver medals in the Busan Asiad while Kelly took home a bronze in the Macau tilt.

Canisi and Pasiwat, for their part, have been dishing out solid performances, particularly during the team’s two-month buildup for the Vietnam wars in various cities in China.

"Dapat nga 90 days sila sa China kaya lang kinapos na ng suporta kaya two months lang sila doon," said Pimentel. "But the team’s China stint was really a big help in molding our Sanshou team."

Other members of the Hanoi-bound squad are Andy Liu (Taolu), Peter Quina (Tajiquan), May Lim (Tai chi and Tajiquan) and Sanshou‚s Dolly Andres (52-kg) and Jennifer Lagilag (48-kg).

The Chinese coaches, assisted by Pimentel, Tan Sui Candelaria and Eddie Tanteko, also said the newly-constructed wushu training center located at the fourth floor of the Philippine Sports Commission’s sports medicine building and good leadership played a big part in honing our Hanoi-bound athletes.