KUALA LUMPUR: The Wushu Federation of Malaysia (WFM) are banking on current World Champion Wong Weng Son (pix) and former World Champion Tan Cheong Min (pix) to keep the country’s flag flying at the 2024 Wushu World Championships scheduled in Japan next November.
Weng Son clinched the men’s Changquan gold medal at the 2023 World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth, Texas last month while Cheong Min has won the world title twice before in the women’s Duilian event with Phoon Eyin and Loh Ying Ting (Kazan 2017) and women’s Nandao (Shanghai 2019).
The Wushu Federation of Malaysia (WFM) president Datuk Chong Kim Fatt said the federation was placing its hopes on both the wushu exponents to deliver the national wushu camp’s target of one gold medal at the championships.
“Apart from Weng Son and Cheong Min, others in the squad for the World Wushu Championships are Sydney Chin Sy Xuan, Clement Ting and Calvin Lee,“ he told Bernama.
According to Kim Fatt, the five are among eight wushu exponents who have qualified for the 2024 World Championships on merit in their respective events after finishing among the top eight because the only the top 10 ranked exponents are eligible to compete in the championships.
Kim Fatt added that WFM would submit a proposal to the National Sports Council (NSC) next week to consider WFM’s request to send the squad for training in China twice next year.
He added that the WFM were forced to submit the proposal since the federation were made to understand that the NSC has only approved one overseas training session next year due to budget contraints.
“We will meet the new NSC director-general Abdul Rashid Yaakub to once again discuss WFM’s plans to send the wushu exponents for training twice next year as part of preparations for the World Championships next year,“ he said.
Kim Fatt who was the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games chef-de-mission said the wushu exponents need to be given training and exposure twice a year following the good performance and results throughout 2023, including winning 11 medals in Texas, comprising one gold, six silver and four bronze medals.
He is also hoping to include a few back up athletes for overseas training as part of preparations for the 2025 SEA Games hosted by Thailand in three cities. namely Bangkok, Chonburi and Songkhla from Dec 9 to 20, 2025. – Bernama