NEWS

ICU student selected as a member of Japan national team to participate in the 14th World Wushu Championships

Update: September 4, 2017

The 34th All Japan Wushu Taijiquan Championships was held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) over a three-day period from July 7th (Fri) to 9th (Sun). Among the 1,800 competitors who gathered for the championships, ICU student Risa Ikeuchi (forth-year student of College of Liberal Arts, ICU) participated in the women's category for self-selected degree of difficulty (*1).

The All Japan Championships also serve as the final selection process of the members of Japan national team to participate in the 14th World Wushu Championships to be held at Kazan, Russia in late September, and Ms. Ikeuchi was selected as the representative in Chángquán (*2) routine from among the 32 finalists who participated in the women's category for self-selected degree of difficulty.

Comment by Ms. Ikeuchi

I started to practice martial arts when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school. My mother was a member of a Taijiquan team and her teammate invited me to join the team. Since then, I have been enjoying achieving a higher rank in competitions, which encourages me to practice harder. When I was choosing which college to go to, I thought about the option of choosing a college of physical education. But I decided to go to ICU, where I could learn about various fields, not only martial arts, because, through my experience in martial arts, I often had the chance to meet people from China, and I had come to be interested in foreign cultures and languages, and discovering a new world.

Last year, I went to study at The University of Sheffield in England as an exchange student. I was determined to participate in the All Japan Wushu Taijiquan Championships this year, so I wasted no time to participate in local competitions as soon as I started my collage life there. Every weekend, I practiced with a team I met at a local competition. I also trained at a gym near the university campus. I used to train 6 times a week in an ideal environment when I was in Japan, so my stay in England made me realize how important every practice is and how lucky I was to have been able to practice in a well-equipped environment.

The World Wushu Championships will be the first international competition I will experience. I will thoroughly prepare my mind and body to demonstrate the best of what I have attained through daily practice. I hope I could convey the attractiveness of martial arts to as many people as possible by showing a great performance.

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*1 Competition category for self-selected degree of difficulty

A competition category open only to players designated by the Japan Wushu Taijiquan Federation. The number of players qualified to participate in the competition is very limited due to its motion characteristics.

*2  Chángquán

A style of Chinese martial arts involving dynamic and fast motions, which is very attractive

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