The 2021 IWUF Wushu Taolu Virtual Competition was held between October 18^th to November 06^th  with about 1,000 participants from 61 countries and regions.

As the first ever online wushu competition by IWUF, there were 11 competition events including Changquan, Daoshu, Qiangshu, Jianshu, Gunshu, Taijijian, Taijiquan, Taijishan, Nanquan, Nandao and Nangun.

With an Australian team mostly from Western Australia, the competitions were divided into three age groups: group A (12-14 years old), group B (15-17 years old) and group C (18 years old and above).

Below is a summary of the results for the Australian team:

• Competition Events Participated: 27
• 1st Category Prize: 1
• 2nd Category Prize: 10
• 3rd Category Prize: 12 Best

Well done to all our athletes who competed.

Association (IWGA) during the IWGA¹s 2021 Annual General Assembly (AGM 2021) held virtually on May 27th, 2021.

The IWUF submitted its application documents to the IWGA on February 14th, 2021 and made a presentation for membership application during the IWGA AGM on May 21st, 2021.

The AGM was attended by 36 members out of IWGA¹s 37 members. In line with IWGA¹s Constitution, the acceptance of the membership should meet 2/3 in majority by voting.

During the AGM, wushu (IWUF) received 29 votes, and sambo (FIAS) received 24 votes, both becoming the IWGA¹s new members. Currently, IWGA has 39 members in total.

President Gou said that this successful result is the achievement of a long term of global wushu promotion which was contributed by all members of IWUF Executive Board, Committees, as well as the IWUF¹s 155 member federations.

Today the IOC announced that wushu will be included as an official sport in the Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games (YOG). This is a tremendous milestone in the development of wushu, and the positive outcome is the result of the hard work, longtime efforts and substantial global promotions of the IWUF and its 155 members over the past 30 years.

After serious consideration by the IOC Executive Board, wushu was included in the Dakar 2022 YOG for several key reasons. Wushu is a sport greatly enjoyed and popularized by youth. The IWUF adheres to the principles, vision and mission of the YOG and the IOC that promote youth athletes learning about Olympic values, exploring other cultures, developing the skills to become true ambassadors of their sport, and improving their training methods and performance.

The IWUF believes the inclusion of wushu in the Dakar 2022 YOG offers enormous encouragement for all athletes, coaches and officials in the sport today. This milestone will greatly encourage more young people to explore wushu and join the sport, training towards both an elite level and for enjoyment and health. The IWUF continues to emphasize that wushu helps youth build a strong body, mind and spirit, while promoting friendship and understanding among various cultures and nations.

Looking to the future, the successful inclusion of wushu in the Dakar 2022 YOG reminds the IWUF that we need to consistently evolve to keep our sport attuned to the needs of its stakeholders, by continuing to refine rules and regulations, and adhering to the IOC motto of “faster, higher, stronger.” The Federation will strive to develop more wushu federations around the world especially in underserved regions, and promote more vigorously the wushu lifestyle that offers athletes the benefits of sport for health and happiness.

The IWUF offers a heartfelt and profound thanks to all its members and partners who have supported the Federation’s work for the past 30 years, helping build the sport of wushu to its current high level.

MAIA President Walt Missingham has today congratulated the Martial Arts industry in collectively rising to the occasion in dealing with the Covid 19 Crisis and its impact on our industry.

“In less than 3 weeks we have had over 20,000 instructors successfully complete the certification process, it is a credit not just to the MAIA team who developed and released the program but to the thousands of instructors who have been able to respond in a non political way to the benefit of our industry – well done to all involved!”

Walt revealed that the Covid Safe Certification Program is only the first part of what the MAIA will be doing over the next 6 months. We have a comprehensive awareness campaign that centres around the single ‘Covid Safe School brand’.”

“Many instructors are focused on the date that they can return to teaching and this is, of course both reasonable and understandable, but this is not the only challenge we face. The far greater challenge is to deal with the very effective fear campaigns waged by both our governments  and our media.

The Covid Safe Martial Arts Schools initiative is designed not just to effectively educate instructors but also to give the general public confidence in returning to training with ‘Covid Safe’ Instructors.”

The program can be accessed here:

https://www.openlearning.com/courses/covid-safe-martial-arts-school/

It provides online training for any martial arts instructor.

It has been developed by the MAIA as a free service to our industry and provides a pathway via which any martial arts instructor can obtain the training needed for a safe a legal resumption of their classes.

Walt acknowledged the input of the certification development team:

“An essential and vital job for our industry completed in record time – well done to the team Sam Sujatna, Fred Ong, Kevin Blundell, Fari Salievski, John Bedwany and Joel Rheinberger.”

During this crisis KWA members are receiving regular Bulletins but is important to realise that the situation moves quickly. Please click here to get the latest information from the Government/Health Department website.

https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert?utm_source=health.gov.au&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=digital_transformation&utm_content=health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov

KWA President, Walt Missingham, has today ordered the suspension of all KWA Accreditation Intakes until the 1 June 2020 at which time the Covid 19 situation will be reassessed.

KWA will reschedule accreditation intakes that were to have occurred in the first half of this year once it is safe to do so.

Special arrangements have been made to extend the period in which reaccreditation can occur so that no one is disadvantaged.