ILOILO City – Ilonggo Arnel Mandal, the wushu gold medalist in the recent 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in Vietnam, dreams of competing in the Olympics.
He also encourages the Ilonggo youngsters to try wushu, a hard and soft and complete martial art, as well as a full-contact sport.
The 27-year old Mandal said he would be preparing for and joining bigger events to further improve his game.
A resident of Barangay Calaparan, Arevalo district, Mandal captured the SEA Games wushu gold medal in the men’s -56 kilogram category by defeating Indonesia’s Laksmana Pandu Pratama in the finals, 2-0.
For bringing honor to Iloilo City, SM City Iloilo conferred “The Pride of Iloilo Award” to Mandal.
Wushu has a long history in reference to Chinese martial arts. It was developed in 1949 in an effort to standardize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts.
Wushu has become an international sport under the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), which holds the World Wushu Championships every two years.
Mandal said wushu instills discipline and sportsmanship among players.
Wushu is an official event at the Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games, World Combat Games, and in various other multi-sport events.
In 2016, Mandal also captured one of the Philippines’ two gold medals in the 8th Wushu Sanda World Cup in Xi’an, China./PN
