Team Canada won six medals at an international martial arts competition — its best result in history.
The team consisted of 13 young athletes, including two Richmond athletes, who brought home one gold, one silver and four bronze medals at the 8th World Junior Wushu Championships. Team Canada ranked 14 overall in the world.
Richmond athletes Junchen Yang,11, and Johnny Filtness,14, made their debuts on the international stage.
Yang placed fifth for daoshu (broadsword) in the age 11 and under category, while Filtness won bronze in the 56kg category for sanda (Chinese kickboxing). Both of them trained at Richmond's SYL Wushu Taichi Qigong Institute.
More than 46 teams, including Canada, competed in the competition held in Tangerang, Indonesia.
There were more than 700 athletes from all over the world who competed in the international competition this year.
Team Canada was led by coaches Helen Liang and Chenhan Yang of Richmond's SYL Wushu Taichi Qigong Institute as well as Toronto's Wayland Li.
Athletes in Team Canada ranged from nine to 17 years old and were selected from the 2022 Canadian Martial Arts Championships and Festival that was held in Thunder Bay, Ont. earlier this year.
Wushu is one of the four new sports to be featured in the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, along with baseball5, skateboarding and surfing.
