MEMBERS of the national wushu team to the 30th Southeast Asian Games are hoping they could familiarize themselves with the actual competition venue way ahead of the rest.
Wushu in the coming SEA Games will be held at the Philippine International Convention Center from Dec. 1 to 3. The Philippines will host the biennial event on Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
Two-time SEA Games gold medalist Daniel Parantac said familiarity with the venue could spell the difference in their bid to deliver gold medals.
“If we can train in the actual venue at least two weeks before the competition, it will be good for us. Actually, the earlier, the better,” he said in yesterday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Amelie Hotel in Manila.
Parantac, who won gold medals in taolu during the 2013 and 2015 SEA Games then finished fourth in 2017, added that as host, Filipino wushu officials and athletes must seize the opportunity.
“If we train in the venue two or three days before the competition, that’s not enough. We need to get used to the surface. Meron kasing surface na madulas and meron din makapit,” Parantac said during the forum where he was joined by fellow wushu athlete Agatha Wong, the reigning SEA Games champion in taolu, a subjective event (judging).
