Fine show at Asian meet by wushu juniors

Less than a year after a historic haul of medals on the world stage, Singapore's young wushu warriors put up another good showing at the Asian Junior Wushu Championships earlier this month.

The team of 12, aged nine to 17, returned from Manila with two golds, three silvers and six bronzes.

Jowen Lim and Etienne Lee delivered two timely birthday gifts to the nation, winning the Group B (13-15 years old) changquan and Group A (16-17 years old) jianshu events respectively.

Jowen, 14, had won a silver in the changquan at the World Junior Championships last year.

He clinched two more bronzes in the daoshu and gunshu events while Etienne, 16, bagged a silver in the spear event.

The duo, together with other medallists like 15-year-old Adalia Jesse Colin (silver, qiangshu), 16-year-old Zoe Mui (bronze, broadsword) and 17-year-old Samuel Tan (bronze, taijiquan) are set to compete in senior-level competitions later on in the year.

The Singapore Wushu Dragon & Lion Dance Federation has pencilled them in for either the World Championships in Kuala Lumpur or the World Combat Games in St Petersburg. Both are in October.

Singapore's haul of 11 medals at the biennial event put them 13th out of 18 teams in the medal tally.

Said federation president Liang Eng Hwa, who is also a Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC: "I'm very pleased with this result. It bodes well (for the future) and I think many of our athletes can be world class."

maychen@sph.com.sg

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