Five-strong wushu team set for worlds

The Bermuda team taking part in the 12th World Wushu Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from October 28 has been announced.

It consists of san shou (san da) athletes Jermal Woolridge, Sentwali Woolridge, Khalid Pitcher and Jeron Gunness and taolu athlete Garon Wilkinson. 

For Jermal and Sentwali Woolridge and Wilkinson, the competition is their fourth world championships, while Gunness will make his wushu championship debut.

Khalid Pitcher will be competing in his second worlds.

President of Bermuda Sanshou Association Wilkinson said: “I am very happy with the strength of our team. We have been in hard training specifically for this world championships for the past eight weeks and we still have a good two weeks of very hard training to go. 

“The training camp has been very successful and this is the final team that we have selected. 

“We have a good bit of experience with myself, Jermal and Sentwali. I’m happy to see Khalid back on the scene and it’s great to have Jeron as a new athlete in the fold. 

“He will be critical in the development of the next crop of athletes that we now have training. We have a few bumps and bruises that we will be trying to get on top of over the next couple of weeks and our fighters still have to cut weight prior to weigh-in.

“However, all in all we are in a good position and I expect a great championships.”

The coaching and management team also travelling to Kuala Lumpur consists of Oscar Lightbourne, Fabio Iannone, Talia Iris, Nolette Tucker, Karlene Antoine and Melody Lightbourne. n