National Wushu games postponed

MANILA -- Wushu Federation of the Philippines (WFP) has regret to announce the postponement of the National Wushu Championship slated from May 22 and 23 to middle of July, this year.

The cause of the postponement was the alleged continued refusal of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) under the watch of Chairman Harry Angping to extend assistance and support to WFP.

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On April 10, the WFP wrote to the PSC, requesting for the use of the facilities of the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine (PCSM) building in Manila.

On May 12, a letter-reply sent by Fr. Vicente L. Uy, commissioner and executive director of the PSC, informed WFP President Tan She Ling that the WFP activity cannot be accommodated because the Wushu Gym at the 5th floor of the PCSM building is "under repair and construction" and it would not be advisable to hold competitions thereat.

However, the PSC has approved the request of Francis Onglatco, head of the Cebu chapter, for the use of same venue and its facilities for the 2010 Wushu Invitational his chapter has organized for May 22 and 23.

The letter-request was made recently on May 21, 2010.

Julian Camacho, WFP secretary general, sought reconsideration with Fr. Uy, citing the completion of the Wushu Gym refurbishment. This did not materialize, but Fr. Uy suggested a meeting with PSC Chairman Harry Angping.

The WFP, however, decided to move the dates of the games to a later date due to uncertainty of the meeting with Angping.

"Since the May 19 meeting was not definite and going by the past actions of the PSC Chairman, the organizing committee of the nationals deemed nothing favorable to WFP will come out of it if ever it will pushed through," Camacho said in postponing the national games to a later date.

"The PSC, from the time Chairman Angping took over has not extended a single centavo of financial assistance to WFP," said Camacho, adding that even requests for endorsement for travel tax exemptions and terminal fee waivers had not been acted upon, except for the athletes and officials to the Laos SEA Games.

He also said that last year, their athletes joined the Macau Asian Wushu Championship, the Kaoshiung World Games, the Bangkok Asian Martial Arts Games and the Toronto World Championships - "all high level competitions" - preparatory to the Laos SEA Games.

But, this year, not a single Wushu athlete has received allowances from the PSC. Other athletes whose sports are in Asian Games program, like Wushu, have been receiving theirs as early as March, said Camacho.

Earlier, the WFP also requested for foreign coaches and the PSC chairman allegedly replied that the commission will choose Chinese coaches.

"Well, WFP is still waiting for his choice (of Chinese coaches). Four months have gone by. It is also important to note that the salaries of our foreign and local coaches ranging from January to May 2009, March to December 2009 and the July to December 2009 have yet to be paid," Camacho said.

Filipino Willy Wang won gold medal in the Wushu demonstration event at the Olympic Sports Center during the Beijing Olympic Games.

Wang bested 20 other competitors at the men's nanquan and nangun event. Two other Filipino wushu artists, Benjie Rivera and Mary Jane Estimar, garnered bronze medals after beating their respective opponents in the opening round.

However, since wushu is a demonstration sport in Beijing, their successes will not reflect in the 2008 Olympic Games' official medal tally.