CHENGDU: The first gold medal of the 31st FISU World University Games is set to be awarded from the men’s Nanquan of Wushu tournament on Saturday, as Chinese athlete Cao Maoyuan aims for the top honor.
“As the Universiade approaches, I am adjusting my physical condition and hopefully I can try my best and enjoy the competition,” Cao said.
The Wushu competition of the Chengdu Universiade consists of Nanquan, Changquan, Taijiquan, Gunshu, Daoshu, Taijijian, Jianshu, Qiangshu, Nandao and Sanda.
“When athletes begin to show Taolu, they set an imaginary enemy in their minds, and show the connotation of offense and defense with different movements and punches,” said Yu Bo, Cao’s coach, adding that the judges would score on drills, choreography and difficulty.
As a traditional sport that has a long history in China, Wushu is popular with the Chinese people and has gained a global reputation.
The Chengdu Universiade will open on Friday night and run through August 8. A total of 6,500 athletes from 113 countries and regions are competing in 269 events across 18 sports.
