Philippine Sportswriters Association to honor Wang in Annual Awards

The gold medal Willy Wang bagged in Beijing last year may have not reflected in the official tally of the Olympic Games.

But for a lot of Filipinos, it did count like one.

The 24-year-old Filipino bet topped the men’s nanquan and nangun event combined in the Wushu Tournament Beijing 2008, a special side event held simultaneously with the Olympics featuring the top wushu artists from around the world.

Wang’s triumph somehow came as a relief for another failed campaign by the country in the quadrennial meet.

And while the achievement fell short of an Athlete of the Year honor for Wang, he’ll nevertheless be given tribute as a major awardee in the coming San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Annual Awards Night.

Four-time world champion Manny Pacquiao is the runaway choice as 2008 Athlete of the Year by the media organization comprised by editors and sportswriters from the national broadsheets and tabloids.

With the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) as major sponsor, the Annual Awards Night is set Feb. 20 at the Alegria Lounge of the Manila Pavilion.

Also recipients of the major award handed out by the country’s oldest media association whose award rite is also supported by the PSC, POC, Shakey’s, Accel, PBA, PBL, NCRAA, ICTSI, Smart, Purefoods, Ginebra, Ever Billena, Harbour Centre, Secretary Lito Atienza, Pharex, Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and Mighty Sports Corp. are golfers Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin, Angelo Que and Dottie Ardina.

Wang won gold in Beijing by tallying 19.44 points, defeating Taipei’s Peng Wei-Chua (19.39) and Malaysian Pui Fook Chien (19.34) for the honor.

Three more Filipino wushu artists also shone in the same tournament, but settled for lower placing. Mary Jane Estimar notched a silver in the women’s 52 kg (sanshou) while Benjie Rivera (56 kg sanshou) and Marian Mariano (56 kg sanshou) both went home with bronze medals. All of them are also expected to get citations from the 60-year-old media organization.

Aside from his Beijing gold stint, Wang also stamped his class in the 7th Asian Wushu Championship in Macau three months before the Olympics. He totaled 9.65 points to beat Pam Quoc Khanh of Vietnam (9.64) and Hong Kong’s He Jing De (9.63) for first place in nandao (Southern single-edged sword).

Wang was a former Asian junior champion and gold medal winner in last year’s World Wushu Championship.