THREE WUSHU TAOLU EVENTS TO BE COMBINED AT SEA GAMES 2025 - KIM FATT

From Muhammad Afiff Md Adnan

NANTONG (China), Nov 6 (Bernama) – For the first time in history, three wushu events within the taolu routine will be combined into a single event competing for one medal at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand.

This latest development was shared by Wushu Federation of Malaysia (PWM) president, Datuk Chong Kim Fatt who said that the host country’s decision is unprecedented in SEA Games history, thus requiring careful consideration.

He explained that if this rule remains unchanged, it could impact competing athletes.

“It will have an effect, for instance, causing fatigue since athletes would need to perform in three events consecutively in one day.

“At the same time, it will make it challenging for any country to compete for a medal,” he said during the ASEAN-China Wushu Championship at Nantong University here.

According to Kim Fatt, this decision, announced by the host country’s representative at a congress here, took many wushu federations by surprise.

“We will try to discuss this with the organisers. If it remains unchanged, we hope that the wushu competition schedule will be extended beyond three days so that each taolu event can be held on a different day.

“This includes lowering the age categories for the sanda event since not every country has athletes in the over 70 kg category,” said Kim Fatt, who also serves as president of the ASEAN-China Wushu Federation.

At the upcoming SEA Games, the combined taolu events for men will include nanquan/nandao/nangun (1), changquan/daoshu/gunshu (1), and taijiquan/taijijian (1).

For women’s events, the combinations will involve nanquan/nandao/nangun (1), changquan/qiangshu/jianshu (1), and taijiquan/taijijian (1).

In addition, there will be four duilian and sanda events each, bringing the total number of events contested to 14.

-- BERNAMA