Bemedalled wushu bets back in training

Feted for more than a week, it’s back to reality for wushu bets Willy Wang and Co.

Wang along with Mary Jane Estimar, Marian Mariano and Benjie Rivera have gone back to training as they prepare for two other major international tournaments set before the year ends.

 “They were back in training two days ago. Everything goes back to normal for them,” said wushu coach and Philippine Wushu Federation Youth Development director Lester Pimentel as he accompanied Wang, Estimar and Mariano in the PSA Forum at the Shakey’s UN Avenue branch yesterday.

The 24-year-old Wang won a gold medal in the nanquan or form event of the Wushu Tournament Beijing 2008, a special meet held as part of the 29th Olympic Games in the same Chinese capital.

Estimar, meanwhile bagged a silver in the sanshou or combat event while Rivera and Mariano both went home with a bronze medal each.

All four were honored following their exploits, with Wang receiving most of the accolade, including a P5 million financial reward from no less than President Arroyo.

But at the start of the week, the wushu bets resume their training as they gear up for the Sanshou World Cup in Harbin, China and the Trex Games in Busan, Korea.

“The sanshou bets are leaving for China two weeks from now for the World Cup so they really have to train hard,” Pimentel added in the public sports program sponsored by Shakey’s, Accel, Brickroad gym and Aspen spa and MedCentral Medical Clinic and Diagnostic Center.

Estimar, Rivera, Mariano and Jessie Aligaga will banner the four-man RP team competing in the China meet set from Sept. 17-19.

Wang, meanwhile, spearheads the team bound for Korea next month.

Pimentel, the 1995 wushu world champion, also said all four medalists are not assured yet of slots in the national team for next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Laos.

He stressed the wushu federation is still going to conduct tryouts and performance evaluation on all national pool members before deciding who will comprise the RP wushu roster.

“But of course, all four of them have a big advantage of making it compared to others,” Pimentel said.