In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

10 Wushu players to train in China for SEA Games

By Pigeon Lobien

June 3, 2019, 12:20 pm

<p><strong>FORM.</strong> Daniel Parantac, dressed in fuzhuang, the Chinsese garb for taolu, is seen doing his routine at the Camp John Hay in his hometown of Baguio City. Parantac is one of the three Cordillerans and among the ten taolu competitors who flew to China on June 2 for a five-month training. <em>(File photo courtesy of Ric Maniquis/Heroes Project photo) </em></p>

FORM. Daniel Parantac, dressed in fuzhuang, the Chinsese garb for taolu, is seen doing his routine at the Camp John Hay in his hometown of Baguio City. Parantac is one of the three Cordillerans and among the ten taolu competitors who flew to China on June 2 for a five-month training. (File photo courtesy of Ric Maniquis/Heroes Project photo) 

BAGUIO CITY -- The wushu taolu team of 10 players, including three Cordillerans, left for Fujian, China on Sunday to start their five-month training for the South East Asian Games (SEAG) to be hosted by the Philippines late this year.

“We are at the airport already,” said Daniel Parantac through Facebook Messenger Sunday prior to boarding their plane.

Parantac left with nine other taolu players, five of them juniors and fellow Cordillerans Thornton Lou Sayan and Jones Inso.

The 10 taolu players that include Agatha Wong will go on a five-month training with Chinese master Li Qiang for the finer points of the Chinese martial arts’ form side.

Parantac is a 2013 and 2015 SEA Games gold winner, who took the silver in the taijiquan event of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

The flight of two of their fellow Cordillerans, multi-gold winner Divine Wally and newbie Gideon Padua, and the combat side of the discipline or sanda will be for a later date.

“They will follow after getting the approval where they will train,” added the 28-year-old Parantac who also won a silver and two bronze medals in the Wushu World Championship in 2013 and 2014.

The sanda team will train at the Wuhan University in Hubei, where Wally said they will meet their new coach, who she did not identify.

“Sa Wuhan University po kami this time, kasi taga doon yung bagong Chinese coach namin (It will be at Wuhan University this time, since our new coach is from there),” Wally said.

They will train for a total of five months, while they are also set to see action in the 15th World Wushu Championship scheduled on October 19-23, this year, in Hong Kong.

The teams will fly home mid-November for the SEA Games scheduled late November and early December in various venues in Manila, Clark in Angeles, Pampanga and Bulacan, among others.

During the 1st Traditional Wushu Tournament in December last year in Nanjing, China, SEA Games-bound Wong won the gold in taijijian and taijiquan events, while Parantac won one in taijijian.

Inso, Sayan and Johnzenth Gajo accounted for the country’s gold medals, particularly in changquan and daoshu competitions. (PNA)

Comments