Thornton Lou Sayan earned two gold medals and equaled Agatha Wong’s output as the two powered the Wushu Federation Philippines to a six gold – six silver medals finish that is good for fourth place in the recent Asian Traditional Wushu Competition (Online) 2021.
The Covid-19 postponed event jointly hosted by the Chinese Wushu Association and the Wushu Federation of the Malaysia saw the Baguio City High School alum win gold medals in nan quan (barehand) and nan gun (cudgel) beating participants from 20 other countries with 126 athletes.
The University of the Cordilleras student matched the output of SouthEast Asian Games wushu darling Agatha Wong, who also won two gold medals in women’s yang style tai ji quan and women’s 42-step taiji jian.
Saint Louis University student Jones Llabares Inso took the gold in men’s chen shi tai ji jian (sword) and a silver medal in men’s chen shi tai ji quan (barehand).
Veteran Daniel Parantac complimented the team’s production with two silver medals of his own, won in 32 steps taiji quan (barehand) and and men’s 42 step tai ji jian (straight sword).
Two of their Manila-based counterparts came out with the same production, a gold and a silver medal for Dave Degala (8-section whip and chang quan, respectively) and Johnzenth Gajo, who got silver medals in chang quan and broad sword.
The event was dominated by the Chinese host with 13 gold medals with no silver and bronze outputs, while co-host Team Malaysia wound up second but with equal number of medals – 11 golds and two silver medals.
The Hong Kong Wushu Union Limited matched the top two teams in total medal production after whipping in 10 golds, a silver and two bronze medals.
Team Philippines eased past two other countries which have six gold but lesser silver medals. Thailand came in fifth after conjuring four more silver medals and Japan which wound with a silver and a bronze medal to finish sixth in the tournament.
Wushu General Association of Macau finished seventh with a 4-2-6 output, followed by Wushu Federation of I.R. Iran which came out with a 2-5-6 haul.
Another Southeast Asian country, Singapore, had a single gold, the most silver medals with nine and two bronze medals.
Korea Wushu Federation completed the top 10 with a lone gold and six silver medals.
Thailand matched the top two finishers medal production but no gold medal to show but has nine silver medals and four bronze.
The Wushu Federation of Brunei Darussalam actually finished with the most medals – 16 – but are either silver (6) and bronze (10).
The remaining nine teams all went home with a medal to show at least. Indonesia has three each of silver and bronze medals, Bangladesh with two silver medals and the most bronze medals with 11; India and Kazakhstan tied with 2-10 silver-bronze.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka pocketed six bronze medals each, Nepal and Lebanon with five bronze medals each and Yemen had two bronze medals.
The three national wushu taolu team members regularly train at the Baguio swimming pool, which is still under repair, on a self-training mode.
Parantac said that they are expected to undergo bubble training early next year in time for the 2021 SEAG on May in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The Covid-19 delayed SEAG will have 520 events in 40 sports discipline.
