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Because of scheduling conflicts, Jan-yu Weng, the Team Captain, was unable to attend. Fortunately, Master Li Wing Kay of Sao Paulo Brazil was able to substitute for Jan-yu. Representing the PASF was Sandro Roberto, also from Sao Paulo.
The shuai-chiao championships were part of a larger tournament sponsored by the Professional Wushu Kung Fu Association (PWKA) and the Italian government. The tournament was held in a beautiful facility that was part of a complex of buildings and gymnasiums that served as a school of physical education and the training grounds of Italy's Olympic athletes.
Once the competition began, things ran relatively smoothly. However, taking the weekend as a whole, there seemed to be a bit of disorganization and more than one major scheduling problem (mostly resulting from the fact that the hotel, located in the suburbs of Rome, was a good distance from both the city center and the tournament site). It is unclear if this was due to oversights of the organizing committee or to miscommunications because of language barriers. Another disappointment to many of the foreign athletes was learning that the competition was a single elimination match. With a many of the athletes traveling thousands of miles, it seemed unfair that losing one match would put them out of the competition, especially since the weight classes had an average of about 5 athletes each. After several athletes petitioned the organizing committee, friendly exhibition matches were set up on Sunday, after the regular competition, for fighters who wanted another test of their skills.
Perhaps the greatest aspect of the tournament was the opportunity to meet and get to know athletes from all the other countries. We spent a lot of time talking with the other teams about shuai-chiao and training in their countries. All expressed interest in coming to the US for training and competition (cost permitting, of course) and a few team leaders brought up the subject of an exchange program.
Another interesting aspect of this tournament was that it marked the first time there was a separate category for the shuai-chiao form. Master David Ch'ang (Ch'ang Da-wei) was on hand to personally judge this portion of the competition.
A complete list of the results had not been received from the Italian Shuai-Chiao Union when this article was printed, however Nick Masi and Sandro Roberto both earned bronze medals in their respective weight classes.
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