It was young Steven Luis Ngo’s turn to provide the flash of inspiration for Philippine wushu.
Four months after Willy Wang delivered a rare winning moment in a special event in the Beijing Olympics, the 15-year-old Ngo took centerstage by bagging a gold medal in the Second World Junior Wushu Championship in Bali, Indonesia, recently.
Ngo, a student of Philippine Cultural High School, amassed 9.31 points to defeat chief rival Erwin Wijayanto for the gold in the spear event.
Wijayanto, though, got back at Ngo in the sword competition, where the Filipino lost by just a point.
But the performance, a sterling improvement from a bronze finish two years ago in South Korea, gives Ngo the inside track in the race for spots in the RP men’s team for the 2009 Southeast Asian Games in Laos.
The Philippines, which nearly didn’t make the tournament because of fund woes, grabbed two more silver medals, thanks to Henson See and Francesca Bernasconi.
Bernasconi, a gold medalist in the spear two years, settled for a silver in the broadsword to duplicate Se’s finish in the same event of the boys’ division.
“Good thing some of the young officers of the wushu association were able to gather enough funds for the team that’s why we were able to participate,” said coach Lester Pimentel.
China emerged as the top country in the three-day event with 10 gold medals.
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