January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Martial arts
Wilkinson wins silver
Wilkinson (pictured) medaled in the Advanced Men Traditional Open Weapons Division at the International Chinese Martial Arts World Championship held in Nassau, Bahamas earlier this month.
He performed a drunken straight sword form - a Kung Fu move - securing a second place finish behind Austin Chun of the U.S., who performed a flawless double broadsword form.
Wilkinson also competed in Open Hand Form, Short Weapon, and Long Weapon in traditional forms division but failed to make it into the top three.
In his last of the four events he pulled out a solid drunken sword form beating out other athletes who performed double hooks and monk's spade amongst various other weapons manoeuvres.
Wilkinson stated "This was an inaugural event so the number of entrants were fairly small compared to other Chinese martial arts tournaments.
"However, the advanced men's divisions were extremely competitive with a lot of depth; much more than I had expected.
"I felt that I had performed fairly well in the other divisions but I was a bit disappointed that I was unable to secure a podium finish.
"I knew in my final event, if I performed my drunken form with few errors that I should finish on the podium and that's exactly what happened.
"I have been competing with this form since I was a kid so I'm very confident performing it in major competitions."
Wilkinson fell short of the gold medal to Chun who had won the majority of the other traditional forms divisions.
Wilkinson, who is also president of the Bermuda San Shou Association, also witnessed the san da (san shou) fights where fighters from Azerbaijan went undefeated.
"There were some great matchups in the san da fights and it would have been very interesting to see our Bermuda fighters up against the Azerbaijanese. These guys were extremely aggressive and possessed great skill."
The fights were a part of the newly formed World San da League which is growing worldwide and which Bermuda has recently become a member of.
"This was a great tournament and it provided me with the opportunity to gauge my present level. I realize that I have lots of preparation ahead of me to get ready for next year's Pan American Wushu Championship in Argentina."
Upon completion of the tournament Wilkinson flew to Baltimore to conduct a san shou seminar at Jing Ying Institute under head instructor Shirfu Sean Martial.
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