SAWF hosts 16th annual national championships
More than 100 wushu athletes from right around the country put on their best performances at this year's national championships.
Just over 100 Wushu athletes made the trip to the South African Wushu Federation’s (SAWF) headquarters in Poortview for the 2018 SAWF National and Open Wushu Championships.
This year marked the 16th anniversary of these championships, which have once again been split into a two-day event. The reason for the split is to cater for the various disciplines that are on show.
The first part of the championships took place on Saturday, 11 August, and saw just over 100 athletes battle it out in various Taolu (form) divisions. Coincidentally, the day was also the first-ever World Wushu Kung Fu Day, as declared by the International Wushu Federation, and was marked by a special visit from a delegate from the Chinese Embassy to South Africa, Zheng Wen.
Participants from as young as four years, right up to to the age of 65 years, took part in the competition, which ran from 8am right up until early afternoon.
Judges at the national championships, which is fully sanctioned by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), gave each competitor a score out of 10 based on their performance, and then summed it all together and divided it to get a mean score.
One of the crowd’s favourite performances of the day was a spectacular three-athlete acrobatic display which featured a choreographed fighting sequence (Duilian) with martial arts weaponry.
The second leg of the championships will take place on 1 September and will feature the Taiji, Tui Shou, and Sanda disciplines.
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