| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam national Wushu team manager Calvin Ang emphasised the main focus of overseas training for the athletes is to increase their difficulty level ahead of the much-anticipated 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this month.
The five Wushu athletes who will be taking part in the SEA Games are Md Sufi Shayiran bin Roslan, Mohammad Adi Salihin bin Roslan, Mohammad Adi Sya’rani bin Roslan, Ang Guat Lian and Basma Lachkar.
The Wushu athletes, accompanied by national coach Li Hui, have been busy at a training camp in China as part of their preparations with four athletes having been away since June 21 and the remaining member of the team joining them on July 5.
“The preparation so far is focusing on the difficulty level because Wushu has so many different classes. We’re trying to get their difficulty level higher up so hopefully with that we will improve,” said Calvin in an interview with the media at the Menglait Sports Complex yesterday.
Calvin pointed out that host nation Malaysia will be tough opponents with Singapore and Indonesia equally as strong adding that Indonesia is traditionally strong in Tai Chi.
With one of the Roslan brothers in fine form in the international stage with Mohammad Adi Salihin winning silver in the Sukma Games last year and more recently gold in the Pars Wushu Cup in Iran, the manager indicated that it is always a huge encouragement in winning an international competition.
“The older two brothers are more exposed as they have joined in two editions of the SEA Games but the younger one Salihin is fairly new at international level.
“But I believe in the last event in Iran, he did quite well and came back with the gold so hopefully we are hoping that he can maintain the momentum and go for the best.
“Normally winning medals on international-level competitions is always a good way to boost your morale. What is important is that they can maintain their morale and this is why they go for trainings,” he continued.
“During training, they will try focus more on their weakness and hopefully with that they can lessen their weakness, have lesser problems and make fewer mistakes.”
He further stressed the benefits of training abroad with the athletes able to demonstrate a really good performance, minimise errors and work on increasing their difficulty level.
“When it comes to Wushu, it’s always standard movement so the less mistakes that you have, the more perfect landing that you get and it adds up to your scores.”
He added that overseas training provided the opportunity for the local athletes to train with international competitors which they can take a leaf out of their book.
“With that, they are exposed to many different athletes and they can also improve by getting their own morale or self-esteem higher to see that people are also here training.”
“We are all still learning and even if you don’t do well on the day, it’s okay because you’ll learn from your mistakes. This is why training is so important,” the manager concluded.
The national Wushu athletes are due to return on August 14.
The Wushu event in the SEA Games will start on August 20 to 22 at Hall 5 of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
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