Steven Luis Ngo capped wushu’s big year by winning a gold medal in the second World Junior Wushu Championship in Bali, Indonesia recently.
Combining grace, speed and power, Ngo tallied 9.31 points to beat Indonesia’s Erwin Wijayanto for the gold in spear event of the tournament that gathered 60 teams from all over the world.
The 15-year-old pride of Philippine Cultural High School, a bronze medalist in the 2006 edition of the event in Korea, also emerged as the country’s most bemedalled athlete after winning a silver medal in straight sword event.
Ngo lost the gold to the same Indon rival he beat in spear competition by mere .1 point. Briton Sam Mark finished third.
Despite lack of funds and foreign exposure, the RP junior team, backed by Planet Infinity Fitness Gym, also clinched two silver medals through Henson See and Francesca Bernasconi.
Bernasconi, who won the gold in spear two years ago, settled for a silver in the broadsword while See also finished second in the same event in the boys’ event.
The coaching staff, headed by Lester Pimentel and the team’s supporters Edwin Pimentel, Jocelyn Li, Michelle Lasala and David Yang, lauded the performance of the team, which put up a creditable performance despite the team’s limited budget.
“The team almost did not make it due to lack of funds. Good thing some of the young officers of the association were able to gather enough funds for the team,” said Lester Pimentel. “I also would like to thank the parents of the players for their financial help to the team.”
See lost to Singaporean rival while Bernascono bowed to a Chinese bet.
The Chinese expectedly dominated the three-day event by winning 10 gold medals.