Michelle bags silver

KOTA KINABALU: Michelle Yee was denied of winning a gold medal by a mere 0.01 point in the 3rd World Traditional Wushu Championship in Wudang Mountain, Hubei Province, China recently.

Instead the State wushu rising star settled for the silver medal in the Women’s 18 years old and above in the Sunshi Taijiquan after losing out to a Canadian exponent.

She also claimed a bronze medal for the national team after finishing third in the Bagua Jian event. Malaysia ended their campaign with two gold, five silver and nine bronze medals from the five-day championship. Sixty-nine countries and regions comprising 2,000 exponents took part in the championship.

Apart from Michelle, Sabah had two athletes in the national team squad, namely Stephen Awit Beliku and Elaine Chang, with both receiving the Excellent Participation Certificate for registering eight points and above in their respective events.

Stephen, who turned 60 years old last week, took part in the Taijiquan for men’s 40-59 age group and Elaine, 16, in the Bagua Jian 18 and below category. Sabah Wushu Association (SWA) President Yee Wan Phin, who led the national contingent as team manager, was happy with the national team’s performance, especially the participation of the first ever non-Chinese athlete from Sabah and Malaysia – Stephen.

Yee said apart from taking part in the prestigious championship, the national team in particular the Sabah squad brought with them promotional vouchers to promote the State to other nations in the championship.

Meanwhile, athletes’ training will continue as SWA will asses their form to take part in one of the four coming tournaments early next year.

Among the championships are the 4th Hong Kong International Wushu Competition & The International Health Qigong Demonstration 2009 from March 3-8; International Wushu Meet 2009 in Singapore from March 6-9; 7th Hong Kong Wushu International Festival 2009 from March 6-10 and the 17th Annual Chinese Martial Arts Tournament 2009 at the University of California, Berkeley, United States on April 11.