HANGZHOU – The national wushu squad only slept three hours after they slipped in in the dead of night, before launching into their first practice at the competition venue here this morning.
Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games wushu squad manager Yong Kheng Chien said the athletes and coaches who flew in from Tianjin, China, finished checking in at the sports village at about 2 am after experiencing delays due to the cancellation of the original flight.
He said they were then wide awake as early as 6 am to wolf down breakfast and get ready before training and testing the competition court at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre for one hour from 9 am.
“Quite a lot of last-minute changes here, so the athletes didn’t catch enough sleep as they went to bed at about 3 am and were up at 6 am. Although they are weary, their spirits are very high, you can see during training most of them are in top condition and very eager to perform. They are in the best of spirits.
“Training in China (also) has increased the confidence and stability on the average for all the athletes, this was apparent throughout the one-hour training session,” he told Bernama here.
Commenting on the condition of Wong Weng Son gunning for his first national (gold) medal, Yong said the performance of the 2017 World (jianshu) champion was very impressive in training sessions.
“He is very confident and he aims to go all out for a medal,” Yong said.
Weng Son will compete in the men’s changquan event scheduled to take place this Sunday.
Before arriving in Hangzhou, the national wushu team had camped in Tianjin for a month to undergo intensive training in preparation for the four-year sports games.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang, the national wushu squad failed to bring home any medals, just as they returned empty-handed from the 2014 Incheon Asian Games (South Korea). – Bernama
