Article featuring our Team Canada Wushu Champions!!

On December 2022, the York Region Times published an article on the victorious Team Canada wushu athletes, coaches and delegation officials.

Here is the article below and the original article below.

Jia you!

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第八屆世界青少年武術錦標賽加拿大選手榮獲1金1銀4銅佳績

第八屆世界青少年武術錦標賽於2022年12月2日至10日在印度尼西亞萬丹省坦格朗市舉行，由國際武術聯合會主辦，印度尼西亞武術協會承辦，本屆世界青少年錦標賽吸引了來自62個國家和地區的800多名選手，比賽分武術套路和武術散打兩大項目，共產生71枚金牌。其中武術散打分為兩個年齡組，設置男女17個比賽級別。加拿大選手榮獲1金1銀4銅佳績。

在國際武聯IWUF秘書長張秋平、印度尼西亞總統佐科·維多多 Joko Widodo、印尼青年與體育部長翟努丁·阿馬里（Zainudin Amali）、印尼國家體育委員會主席瑪律恰諾·諾曼（Marciano Norman）、印尼國家奧會執行委員會委員賈迪·拉賈·古古（Jadi Raja Gukguk）和印尼武術協會全體執委會委員，印尼高級經濟部長兼印尼武術協會主席艾朗加·哈塔托（Airlangga Hartarto）的共同見證下，第八屆世界青少年武術錦標賽舉行開幕儀式並順利進行。

加拿大武術團體聯合總會會長兼國際武聯執委鄧華師傅表示，今屆加拿大代表隊獲得很好的成積，分別取得1金1銀4銅佳績。其中包括：B組 的 Lia Mun-Lei Tang-Ruggiero 取得長拳銀牌、刀術銅牌及棍術金牌。而 C組的Fan Li 取得刀術銅牌 、Sophia Jiaqi Liao 取得棍術銅牌，以及散打55公斤級的Johnny Filtness 取得銅牌。

鄧華稱，我謹代表加拿大武術團體聯合總會感謝所有出席第8 屆世界青少年武術錦標賽的教練員、運動員和家長們的團隊精神，共同努力，才能取得到優異的成績。也感謝加拿大境內所有的會友對比賽過程中的支持和關心，給予我們團隊在精神上的鼓勵和力量，特別感謝Alan Tang 做了大量賽前和比賽過程中的準備工作、我們將繼續努力為2026 青少年奧運做好準備。

鄧華續稱，閉幕儀式由印尼體育部長兼副總統穆罕默德優素福卡拉Muhammad Jusuf Kalla主持，原來這位副總統也研習詠春拳，在閉幕儀式後，更與他互相研究黐手。此外，他亦要特別感謝印尼高級經濟部長兼印尼武術協會主席艾朗加·哈塔托Airlangga Hartarto的熱情款待，尤其是在比賽期間，往返酒店與會場，都安排了警車開路，值得贊賞。

第八屆世界青少年武術錦標賽分為套路和散打兩個組別，1. 套路A組：出生年份：2004年、2005、2006年、2007年。第三套國際武術競賽套路：長拳、刀術、劍術、棍術、槍術; 南拳、南刀、南棍; 太極拳、太極劍、太極扇; 對練。B組：出生年份：2008年、2009年、2010年。第一套國際武術競賽套路：長拳、刀術、劍術、棍術、槍術; 南拳、南刀、南棍; 太極拳（42式）; 太極劍（42式）。C組：出生年份：2011年、2012年、2013年、2014年。初級套路：長拳（第三路）、刀術、劍術、棍術、槍術

2. 散打分為青年組：出生年份：2005年、2006年、2007年。男子專案（8）：48公斤級、52公斤級、56公斤級、60公斤級、65公斤級、70公斤級、75公斤級、80公斤級。女子專案（4）：48公斤級、52公斤級、56公斤級、60公斤級少年組：出生年份：2008年、2009年、2010年。男子專案（5）：42公斤級、45公斤級、48公斤級、52公斤級、56公斤級。

Team Canada champion featured in media for World Junior Wushu Championships

The media group Xinhua featured a series of photos from the 2022 World Junior Wushu Championships and covered a few of the athletes during their taolu routines.

Lia Tang-Ruggiero was featured in one of these photos during his bronze-medal Daoshu performance.

Check it out here!

Congrats to all athletes at National Team Trials!

Congratulates to all 27 athletes from Wayland Li that competed in the 2022 Canadian Nationals at Thunder Bay, Ontario!

Your hard work and years of training paid off.

Key Achievements:

• 7 athletes (Caleb Akai, Lia Tang-Ruggiero, Amanda Sun, Allen Liu, Venus Li, Sophia Liao, Marcus Li) from Wayland Li selected to represent Canada at the 8th World Junior Wushu Championships in Indonesia. 3 athletes on the reserve team (Ashley Liu, Chris Gao and Eason Gao). Congratulations team!

• 2 athletes (Erica Li and Rex Lam) from Wayland Li’s Senior Division to represent Canada at the 2023 World Wushu Championships in the United States. 1 athlete on reserve team (Ashley Liu). Well done!

• Group A: 1 gold medal, 3 silver and 5 bronze medals among Caleb, Kai-Hsin, Ashley and Ruth.

• Group B: 8 gold medals, 3 silver and 3 bronze among Lia, Amanda, Chloe, Allen and Chris.

• Group C: 6 gold medals, 6 silver and 2 bronze among Venus, Sophia, Clara, Marcus and Eason.

• Seniors: 3 gold medals, 2 silver and 3 bronze among Erica, Rex, Ashley, and Kai-Hsin. Top 5 finishes for Tiggy and Caleb.

• Open recreational events: 9 students participated in competition for the first time, taking home 1 gold, 18 silver and 6 bronze medals. Well done Ellie, Angelica, Oliver, Benjamin, Jerrica, Thomas, Michael, Alex and Brianna!

We're in the news about National Team Selections!

On July 29-31, 2022, twenty-seven athletes from Wayland Li Wushu participated in the 2022 Canadian National Wushu Championships and the event received both local and national news coverage.

Jia you!!! 加油！

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CBC News Article

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/martial-arts-championships-thunder-bay-1.6536588

Three-day event includes demonstrations, national team qualifiers

CBC News · Posted: Jul 30, 2022 6:00 AM ET | Last Updated: July 30

Hundreds of martial artists from across Canada are in Thunder Bay, Ont., this weekend for a major showcase event.

The 2022 Canadian Martial Arts Championships and Festival began Friday evening with an opening gala. The event continues Saturday and Sunday at Lakehead University's C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse.

"It's a very special and unique event," said managing coordinator Alan Tang of WushuOntario. "It's the first time being held in northern Ontario and of course, in Thunder Bay."

Tang said the event has more than one purpose. Not only is it part of the selection process for Canada's national wushu — defined by WushuCanada as "an officially recognized sport by the International Olympic Committee representing the essence of the Chinese Martial Arts" — but it will also hopefully spread awareness about the sport in the northern Ontario region.

"Many people have seen it, they just haven't realized it or recognized it for what it is," he said of wushu. "They see it in movies and film all the time, through Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, all Chinese kung fu action-based movies."

"This is the sport and the activity that people learn behind it."

Tang himself works in the film industry. He's amassed a number of credits, working as stunt coordinator, trainer, or performer in several well-known films, including: Marvel's Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings, Jupiter's Legacy, Birth of the Dragon, In the Tall Grass, Skyscraper, and Netflix's upcoming live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

"We're educating them on the different elements of the sport, the different styles," Tang said. "Much like when you're looking at gymnastics, you have parallel bars, you have floor routines, you have rings.

"In wushu, you have the straight sword, or the broadsword, the staff, the spear," he said. "These are terminologies that we really want to educate the public on.

"We want to educate them on the history and as well the athletes and how athletic the sport is," he said. "So many [people] know it as kung fu, as the traditional North American term. But wushu is the Olympic sport-recognized term for it."

Tang said the Thunder Bay event will help qualify athletes for the world and world junior championships, which are taking place in Indonesia in December.

And while the competitors appearing at this weekend's championships are very skilled, martial arts is beneficial to everyone, Tang added.

"What differentiates wushu from, say, other sports, is it is a recreational activity that can be practiced by both young and old," Tang said. "You can start at age three, and it's a lifelong sport that you can practice."

"And the reason why is that there are so many different elements of it," he said. "There are health elements, such as a very popular one, which is tai chi. Tai chi is a part of the wushu curriculum, and you'll see both senior athletes participating in competition, as well as young athletic teenagers participating in competition.

"So it provides such a wide variety and such a diversity of action that it keeps a lot of athletes engaged and involved."

Thunder Bay's Brian Nieminen, a volunteer with the weekend's event, has been studying tai chi for about 15 years.

"All martial arts ultimately are very, very similar in the sense that they train the body," he said. "And if you want to fight, you have to harden your body, strengthen your body, whether it's tai chi or any other martial art.

"But most people aren't doing it for fighting," he said. "Most people are doing it for their health."

Nieminen said he hopes the championships will provide some benefits to Thunder Bay.

"It's very good for the city because we're drawing in people from all across Canada," he said. "Many of them, probably most of them, are coming here for the first time.

"It gives us a chance to showcase … our city and our hospitality," Nieminen said. "From the martial arts standpoint, hopefully it'll generate more interest than ever."

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Local Television on national team selections!

We train for the 2022 Canadian Wushu Team Trials!

The 2022 Canadian National Wushu Championships will be held from July 28 to 31st in Thunder Bay, Ontario. We are super excited to be training and sending a superb team to the national team trial selections. All the best to all athletes and take this time to train hard!!!

The venue will be held at Lakehead University and will feature High Performance Wushu athletes, traditional Kungfu, Taiji and Sanda events.

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Athletes that make the Canadian National team will have the opportunity to compete in the World Junior Wushu Championships this December, which will be held in Indonesia.

Good luck to everyone and train hard!!

加油！

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2021 Online China Tournament

What to do during COVID when all competitions are cancelled? Enter online tournaments of course!

During the pandemic, we were saddened to learn that in-person tournaments were cancelled around the world. In May 2021, however, we were invited to participate in an online tournament hosted by the Sichuan Wushu Association, where we competed in a fun and open online youth competition.

The tournament featured athletes from across China’s Sichuan province … and our team from Canada! This was a great way to keep our athletes motivated to train and hone their skills.

A big thank you to Shifu, as well as Coach Ren Gang from the Sichuan Wushu Association.

Champions at the 2020 Ontario Winter Games

On February 27-March 1, 2020, the competition team from Wayland Li Wushu participated in the 2020 Ontario Winter Games. The event is held every two years in the largest Province of Canada and is supported by the Provincial Government. The games involve over 3500 participants in 27 sports over a 4 day period.

This is the second time that Wayland Li competed in the Winter Games. Achievements in Wushu Taolu events include:

• 5 Gold medals in multiple age divisions, 3 silver medals, 3 bronze medals

• Victor Yang was the overall gold medalist for the male Group A division (15+ years old) . Caleb Akai took the bronze medal.

• Ashley Liu was the overall silver medalist for the female Group A division

• Kai-Hsin Chang was the overall gold medalist for the male Group B in the changquan, daoshu, gunshu category

• Amanda Sun was the overall gold medalist for the female Group B in the changquan, jianshu, qiangshu category. Ruth Wen took the silver medal.

• Chris Gao was the overall gold medalist for the male Group C in the changquan, jianshu, qiangshu category

• Leping Ho was the overall bronze medalist for the female Group C in the changquan, jianshu, qiangshu category

• Robert Zhang was the overall bronze medalist for the male Group C in the changquan, daoshu, gunshu category

• Roberta Zhang was the overall gold medalist for the female Group C in the changquan, daoshu, gunshu category. Venus Li took the silver medal.

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Senior Athletes

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Group B Athletes

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Group C Athletes

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Wushu Taolu Results

Congrats World Champion Erica Li!

Congratulations to Erica Li, world champion that took home bronze for Double Straightsword at the 15th World Wushu Championships. The event was held in Shanghai, China from October 19th to 24th. Erica finished with a score of 9.17. We are very proud of you and your amazing accomplishment!

Team Canada results for Wayland Li Students:

Women’s Double Straightsword
Erica Li - 3rd Place/Bronze, score 9.17

Women’s Changquan
Winnie Cai - 9th place, score 9.59
Erica Li - 14th place, score 9.496

Men’s Daoshu
Rex Lam - 17th place, score 9.313
Dylan Liu - 31st place, score 8.546

Men’s Gunshu
Dylan Liu - 17th place, score 9.36
Rex Lam - 30th place, score 8.97

Men’s Changquan
Jason Chen-Leung - 24th place, score 9.26
Rex Lam - 34th place, score 9.166
Dylan Liu - 39th place, score 8.99

Team Canada competes at the 2019 Chungju World Martial Arts Masterships

The Chungju World Martial Arts Masterships were held from August 30-September 6, 2019 in Chungju, South Korea. The event brought together athletes from over 100 countries, and Wayland Li team members (as well as friends from Calgary and Vancouver) represented Team Canada in the Wushu event.

We would also like to thank the staff at the Canadian Embassy in Seoul for hosting us during our visit.

Rex Lam, Dylan Liu and Rasa Rahnema competed in the event. Congrats everyone for your amazing achievements!

Good luck at Nationals (and school will be closed May 25-26th)

Good luck to all the athletes — beginners and seasoned competitors — at this year’s Canadian Wushu Nationals. This is where all of your hard work pays off.

And a special thanks to all of the parents for their support, Shimu for getting everyone’s weapons and silks ready, and of course, Shifu for his countless hours dedicated to coaching.

Work hard and have fun!

Jia you!