Wong hopes for wushu inclusion in Olympics

MANILA, Philippines — SEA Games triple gold medalist Agatha Wong yesterday pitched for wushu to be included in the Olympics with the International Wushu Federation lobbying for another chance after it was one of eight sports proposed for the 2020 Tokyo Games but didn’t make the short list of five. There are efforts to put wushu in the 2024 calendar and its addition to the 2022 Youth Olympic program in Dakar is considered a step in the right direction.

“I know it’s difficult to enter the Olympics because to add one sport means kailangan may tinatanggal,” said Wong who struck gold in the 2017 SEA Games and hit paydirt twice last year. “The IWUF is trying its best to make it an official Olympic sport and it should be for sure. First of all, it’s really hard, to be honest. Even after doing wushu for 12 years, I still find it hard. I’m 21 and I get injured not because of recklessness but because the sport is very difficult. It needs more justice and more people to know it’s a beautiful sport.”

The argument for wushu is it has 120 million practitioners the world over. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the IOC allowed a wushu competition of 15 events to run parallel with the Summer Games but the medalists were not considered in the Olympic standings. There were 128 competitors from 43 countries. The Philippines bagged a gold medal from Willy Wang in nanquan and nangun combined, a silver from Mary Jane Estimar in the women’s 56 kilogram sanshou and two bronzes from Benjie Rivera in men’s 56 kilogram and Mariane Mariano in women’s 60 kilogram, both in sanshou.

Before the recent SEA Games, Wong trained in China for four months. “In the first two months, I had a 10-year-old roommate from the junior team and we were the only females,” she said. “After two months, the juniors returned home and I was the only woman left. But instead of sulking and being homesick, I made an experience out of it. We trained with Chinese athletes and even though communicating was hard, I persevered and I’m grateful for the opportunity to train in China.”

Wong said her goal at the moment is to be injury-free. “I’m not sure how long I’ll compete but I still want to be in the sport,” she said. “As long as my body can take it, I’ll continue to do wushu. My goals are to keep my body going, to listen to what it wants and to be injury-free. I don’t set expectations for myself because if I don’t reach them, I feel like I’m shattered to pieces. I plan to pursue law but right now, I don’t want to stray away from my sport. I thank my grandmother (Eleanor Wong, 67) every day because it was because of her, I fell in love with wushu and why I try to better myself in my sport. She wasn’t an athlete but she introduced us (with brother Christopher and sister Ashley) to the widest variety of sports as she didn’t want us stuck at home.”