Wushu artists key RP surge

HANOI — Arvin Ting and Willy Wang won their second gold medals yesterday, capping wushu’s splendid campaign and giving the Philippines the needed boost to clinch fourth overall in the 22nd Southeast Asian Games.

Ting, winner of the gunshu (staff) event last Thursday, annexed the daoshu (broadsword) title while quiangshou (spear play) crown holder Wang also topped the jianshu (sword) event.

Those scintillating victories raised the sports contribution to the RP cause to six gold, four silver and five bronze medals, a 15-medal total that was a stark improvement to the martial artists’ 4-2-7 haul in the biennial sportsfest two years ago in Kuala Lumpur. In fact, wushu was the second most productive association, next to athletics, which tallied 8-3-5.

"We are so proud of our boys and I’m sure our countrymen are, too," Julian Camacho, Wushu Federation of the Philippines president and RP delegation chief of mission here, said of the 13-member team sponsored by Omni Electrical Lighting.

"All our efforts have paid off, but we’re not stopping here. We’ll go on striving and try to do our country proud in future international meets," said Francis Chan, WFP honorary president for life and Asian federation vice-president.

Aside from the two, also contributing golds are sanshou (combat) practitioners Dolly Andres (52kg) and Eduard Folayang (70kg).

Wang, basically a spear play specialist who won the event’s gold in KL, also had a second place finish in the changquan (northern boxing) last Friaday while also winning silvers are sanshou’s Rene Catalan (48kg) and Joseph Pasiwat (60kg) and Lily So in nanqun (cudgel).

Bagging bronzes are So in both the nandao (Southern broadsword) and nanquan (southern boxing) and Sanshou’s Jennifer Lagilag (48kg), Eric James Kelly (65kg) and Rexel Nganhayna (56kg).

But it is on the 15-year-old Ting, the Binondo-born reigning world champion in the broadsword, that RP officials are pinning their hopes to bring more glory and honor for the country.