The First Wushu Sanshou World Cup
Report By:
Peter Warr - Vice Chairman IWUF Technical Committee
The 1st World Sanshou Cup was held in Shanghai. China. from 25th to
27th July 2002. The Technical committee and Judges arrived on the 22nd
July, where a Sanshou Judges Refresher Course took place.
Peter Warr Vice Chairman IWUF Technical Committee and Mike Tanner IWUF
Sanshou Judge represented the BCCMA / Gt. Britain.
For Wushu, this was a very prestigious event, with all the top Chinese
dignitaries being present.
China's biggest TV sport's channel CCTV.S televised the entire competition,
live to every corner of China; Sanshou has become the third most popular
sports program in China after football and basketball.
This event was sponsored jointly by the Chinese Wushu Association, the CCTV.S and Guowu Sports Co Ltd.
The set up of the stadium was unbelievable, with so many camera crews that I lost count, big video screens, lasers, steam jets, strobe lighting, confetti, cannons and chinese crackers. It was something like Rocky 22 in Hollywood.
The Technical Committee had invited the officials and all Judges were
paid, which included their airfare and accommodation.
The prize money for the fighters:
1st place 10,000 Yuan
2nd place 6000 Yuan
3rd place 3000 Yuan - there were two third places.
In all 16 countries and 44 competitors took part in the competition,
it was held in 3 stages with 11 fights in each stage and 4 fighters in
each weight category. The finals were the third stage and was held on Saturday
evening.
To qualify for the World Sanshou Cup each competitor had to have won
through to the positions from 1st to 3rd place in the World Wushu Championship
in Armenia last year.
To help promote Wushu, China would like to see this event staged around
the world.
The First Placing's were:
Weight Name Country
48kg Shi Xufei China
52kg Kang Yong Gang China
56kg Li Bijing China
60kg Kim Guee Jong Korea
65kg Geri Letu China
70kg Li Jie China
75kg Hosein Ojaghi Iran
80kg Liu Hailong China
85kg Mohammad Reza Iran
90kg Ali Asghar Shabani Iran
90+ Ataev Bozigit Russia