International Invitational Wushu Championships
GenreGlobal sports event
Inaugurated(1982) 1985
Most recent1990
Organised byChinese Wushu Association

The International Invitational Wushu Championships, also known as the International Wushu Festivals, were a series of international wushu competitions held from 1985 until the formation of the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) in 1990. These competitions were the first international wushu competitions to exist which preceded the World Wushu Championships which started in 1991.

Championships

Year Edition Location Discipline
1982 (0) China China Taolu
1984 (0) China China Taijiquan
1985 1 China Xi'an, China Taolu
1986 2 China Tianjin, China Taolu
1988 3 China Hangzhou, China Taolu
1988 (1) China Shenzhen, China Sanshou
1990 4 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Taolu
1990 (2) China Beijing, China Sanshou

History

Background

In January 1982, the movie Shaolin Temple (1982) was released as the first film to feature modern wushu.[1] Later that year, the General Administration of Sport of China officially proclaimed that wushu practitioners had a duty 'to promote wushu to the world'[2][3] with the ultimate goal of wushu becoming an official event at the Olympic Games. In June, the Chinese Wushu Association (CWA) hosted a small-scale international wushu tournament.[4] A year later in 1983, Beijing won the bid to host the 1990 Asian Games, the first international multi-sport event to occur in China, and wushu was added as a new sport.

Championships

The CWA officially hosted the First International Invitational Wushu Championships in Xi'an in 1985.[5][4] 91 athletes from 14 nations competed. China finished in first place with a clean sweep of 14 gold medals, Japan finished in second with five silver and three bronze medals, Canada and Hong Kong finished in third with two silver medals, and the United States was fourth with six bronze medals.[6] Zhao Changjun and Zhang Hongmei from China captured the male and female all-around titles respectively.[6] At this competition, a preparatory committee for the foundation of the IWUF which was led by the CWA and joined by various individuals and organizations throughout the world.[7]

The CWA hosted the second competition in Tianjin in 1986 .[4] At this event, he preparatory committee for the Wushu Federation of Asia (WFA) was formed to host the first Asian Wushu Championships in 1987.[8]

The third championships were held in Hangzhou in 1988.[9][10] Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom grabbed a gold medal each while China won the rest.[11] After the taolu competition, the festival transitioned into the first International Invitational Sanshou Championships which relocated to Shenzhen. China won four out of the five contested weight categories.[7]

No championships were held in 1989 since the second Asian Wushu Championships took place in Hong Kong.

In 1990, the CWA was busy with the formation of the IWUF, and thus gave the Wushu Federation of Malaysia the authority to host an international competition in the middle of 1990 which consisted mostly of Asian athletes. Later in 1990, the wushu competition at the 1990 Asian Games took place.[5] On October 3, the last day of competition, the IWUF was officially formed. In November of the same year, the CWA hosted a second international sanshou competition.[12]

In 1991, the IWUF hosted the 1st World Wushu Championships.

References

  1. ↑ "Martial Arts Fever Sweeps China off its Feet". New York Times. 1982-09-12. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  2. ↑ Brownell, S (2012). Lo, Vivienne (ed.). "Wushu and the Olympic games: 'Combination of east and west' or clash of body cultures?". The International Journal of the History of Sport. London: British Museum Research Publications. 188: 59–69 – via SAGE Publishing.
  3. ↑ ""北京2008武术比赛"-武术何时走进奥运会国际在线奥运频道8月22日封面故事". China Radio International (in Chinese). 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  4. 1 2 3 "Chinese wushu steps up to internationalization". Xinhua General News Service. Jinan. Xinhua News Agency. 1986-06-26. 0623039. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  5. 1 2 "Wushu, a new sports in asiad". Xinhua General News Service. Beijing. Xinhua News Agency. 1990-09-29. 0929230. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  6. 1 2 "first international wushu contest concludes". Xinhua General News Service. Xi'an. Xinhua News Agency. 1985-08-25. 082550. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  7. 1 2 Kokubu, Masaya (1988-12-22). "ASIAN NEWS-CHINA; CHINA WANTS WUSHU FREE COMBAT IN FUTURE OLYMPICS". Kyodo News. Tokyo. Japan Economic Newswire. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  8. ↑ "preparatory committee for asian wushu (martial arts) federation established". Xinhua General News Service. Tianjin. Xinhua News Agency. 1986-11-03. 1103118. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  9. ↑ "China to try to get wushu into olympics, state councillor li tieying says". Xinhua General News Service. Hangzhou. Xinhua News Agency. 1988-10-15. 1015214. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  10. ↑ "Philippine wushu delegation leaves for China to attend international wushu festival". Xinhua General News Service. Manila. Xinhua News Agency. 1988-10-08. 1008097. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  11. ↑ "foreigners share spotlight at international wushu tournament". Xinhua General News Service. Hangzhou. Xinhua News Agency. 1988-10-14. 1014230. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  12. ↑ "china to hold international wushu free sparring invitational". Xinhua General News Service. Beijing. Xinhua News Agency. 1990-07-01. 0701063. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.